<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Past Is Dead by bodyelectrics</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924953">The Past Is Dead</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodyelectrics/pseuds/bodyelectrics'>bodyelectrics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drama, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, it starts slow but gets better</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:13:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodyelectrics/pseuds/bodyelectrics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>26 year old Cassandra Rose Jones' life has been plagued by tragedy since she was a teenager. After losing her parents and fiance, the only thing she has left is her little sister Savannah. When the past comes knocking at their door, Cassandra will be forced to make a life-changing decision in order to save her sister's life.<br/>(Jacob Seed x Original Female Character. Slowburn.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jacob Seed/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Homecoming</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Summary chapter 1:<br/>26 year old Cassandra Rose Jones returns from her last deployment of the united states army to her and her sister's shared house in Missoula, Montana. Once her sister Savannah comes home from a trip to the city, Cassandra's suspicions are raised when she hears her talk about a bunch of religious people from a place called Hope County.</p><p>Hi and thanks for clicking on my first ever Far Cry 5 fanfiction. Things are starting off slow but the pace will pick up soon I promise.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>April 15th 2017, Missoula, Montana</strong>
</p><p><br/>It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when Cassandra Rose Jones was finally allowed to drive home. After spending the last 11 months in Afghanistan with her unit she was looking forward to return to her little sister to spend some time with her again. Cassandra wasn't supposed to be home for at least another 2 weeks, but fortunately for her the things she needed to take care of in enemy territory happened faster than expected.<br/>Pulling into the driveway of their house in Missoula, Montana she noticed that her sister's car wasn't at it's usual parking spot, which wasn't unusual given the fact that she knew how much Savannah loved to spend time in the city no matter if it was for shopping purposes or just sitting down in a café while enjoying her favorite drink with some friends from college.</p><p><br/>Humming to herself Cassandra opened the car door and noticed their neighbor from across the street watering her plants.<br/>"Hello Cassandra, back from saving the world again are we?" Miss Davis yelled over the street, water hose still in her hands. Miss Davis was an elderly woman who now, after the passing of her husband last year, lived alone with their 2 family cats. Cassandra remembered her and her husband to be two of the first people who welcomed her and her little sister Savannah into the neighborhood about 3 years ago. They were both calm and polite people so Cassandra didn't mind having a little small talk with the woman. "I wouldn't call it saving the world but rather doing something that needs to be done. Still, thank you Catherine. I'm glad to be home," Cassandra said with a small smile on her lips.<br/>"No need to sell yourself short my dear. My husband sometimes used to tell me stories from his time in the Marines. I appreciate everything you do for our country," Catherine Davis replied happily. Cassandra could only smile at that. While it was true that she didn't see herself as a hero and rather someone who used her talents to do something useful with her life, it felt nice to be appreciated once in a while. "Thanks again," the young woman replied and then made her way into the nice white house the sisters called their home.</p><p>It was about 4pm now and Cassandra guessed that her sister wouldn't be home until dinner, which gave her more time to have a relaxing bath before she decided to order some of her sister's favorite take out and surprising her with her early homecoming.<br/>About two hours and a nice hot bath later Cassandra was now dressed in comfortable black sweatpants, a grey tanktop and some black socks. Her dog tags and the white gold necklace with a small, diamond encrusted pendant in form of a star that was once gifted to her by her father was present around her neck as always. Her long, black hair was pulled back in a ponytail.<br/>With her phone in hand the young woman made her way to the kitchen to grab the menu of her sister's favorite chinese restaurant and ordered their usual food. After that she started to set the table.</p><p> </p><p><em>Meanwhile,</em> Savannah was enjoying an afternoon in the city with her college friend Tamara, a young woman with auburn hair and brown eyes who moved from Hope County to Missoula about 9 months ago.<br/>The two women spent their afternoon walking through the city, drinking coffee and talking about recent events. They had just finished their coffee when Savannah looked down at her watch absentmindedly.</p><p><br/>"Dammit, it's getting late. I still need do this assignment for Professor Coleman if I want to have the day off tomorrow. I'm not a terrible friend for just leaving now, am I?" Savannah asked anxiously. The prospect of having a real friend in her life was still new to her since her old friends usually just wanted to party and do drugs with her. Other than that they weren't really there when she needed them, a fact that always made her feel alone and lost even in a crowd full of people. Tamara though, she could tell, was different. They've only known each other for a month but Savannah noticed how different she was from all her former friends. She actually listened to her and seemed to care about her feelings.</p><p><br/>"Oh of course not. Besides we're going to see each other tomorrow again anyway, so off you go," Tamara replied with a sincere smile on her face. "Thank you Tam, I'll see you then!" Savannah waved after her friend while going back in the direction of her car.<br/>The drive home was as unspectacular as they come and she sang along to some country music that was playing on the radio. The moment she came closer to her house and saw a familiar car parking in the driveway she almost swerved into the oncoming traffic out of shock and excitement.<br/>Parking her car as fast as she could, the brown haired woman grabbed the keys from her purse and opened the front door only to be greeted by the smell of her favorite chinese food.</p><p><br/>When she went into the kitchen she could already see her older sister standing at the kitchen counter with her back to her, distributing the food onto both their platters.<br/>"Cassy," she yelled with excitement in her voice and immediately ran over to embrace her sister. Cassandra quickly turned around and could only laugh at her little sister's almost childlike demeanor and hugged her tightly. The embrace lasted as long as long as someone would expect from two sisters who haven't seen each other in almost a year.<br/>"I'm so glad you're back," Savannah stated with tears brimming in her eyes and a huge smile on her face once she left her sister's embrace.<br/>"Yeah me too, and look at this..." Cassandra said while gesturing up and down her figure with both her hands "... I'm still in one piece too." The younger one chuckled at that.<br/>After that, Cassandra took a moment to take in her sister's appearance. The younger woman was dressed in light blue skinny jeans, a white blouse that was half covered by her blue jean jacket and some black and white sneakers. Her long, chocolate brown hair was left open and her hazel eyes looked at Cassy with excitement before swaying to the food behind her.</p><p><br/>"Is that my favorite food I see?" she inquired.<br/>"It most certainly is, you're hungry I take it?" the black haired woman asked, grabbing the two plates and putting them down on the dinner table.<br/>"Starving," Savannah only said in return and sat down at the table, starting to eat her chicken and taking an occasional sip from the glass of water Cassandra also provided.<br/>"I didn't expect you to be home so soon," the brunette mentioned after a few bites. "What happened?"</p><p><br/>"Oh nothing for you to worry about. We just finished earlier than we thought," Cassandra answered, not wanting to go into too much detail about the things she always does when she was overseas. Savannah was already used to her sister's secret nature about the missions she went on, so she decided not to push it, a fact that Cassy greatly appreciated.<br/>"You're done now though, aren't you? I mean the 8 years are up. Does that mean you're gonna find a new job here in Missoula?" the younger woman asked with a hopeful tone in her voice. She never liked to see her big sister joining the army in the first place, but she started to like it even less after their father had lost his life about six years ago during one of his deployments.<br/>"Yeah about that... My superiors said that I'm on vacation for two weeks now and that I should take that time to think about reenlistment. They want to keep me and I actually don't see a point in leaving," Cassandra responded, knowing full well that her sister wouldn't like her answer.<br/>"Apart from the possibility of you dying you mean..."</p><p><br/>And there it was, the crude remark Cassy was waiting for. She sighed and put her fork down for a minute. "You know how much I love the army Sav and you also know that I'd be useless anywhere else... Besides, do we have to discuss this now? I'd much rather hear about how your second year of college is treating you," the big sister explained, hoping that Savannah would drop the topic for now. To her relief, she begrudgingly did."Same as usual I guess. A lot of work and boring professors, I made a new friend though," she explained while munching on some fried vegetables.<br/>"Oh really? Tell me about her, or him?" her sister said while putting another fork full of rice into her own mouth.<br/>"Her name is Tamara. She's originally from Hope County but moved to Missoula at the start of this term. We met in the library about a month ago and quickly became friends after that. She's nice and actually listens to me," Savannah answered truthfully.</p><p><br/>Cassandra smiled at her sister's explanation. "Sounds good, just make sure she doesn't pull you into some shit like the losers from your old school did," the older sister answered. After everything that happened back in their home town in Pennsylvania, Cassandra has become generally suspicious about everyone her little sister hung out with these days, because even if she spent most of her time in a war zone she cared more about Savannah than everyone else and didn't want her to get hurt again.<br/>"Don't worry, she's not like that. She doesn't even like parties, except for the occasional barbeque," her sister explained.<br/>Cassandra raised her eyebrow at that. "What kind of college girl doesn't like the parties?" she wanted to know with a hint of playfulness in her voice.<br/>"I know it's a little bit weird. She and her parents are very religious too, but that doesn't bother me to be honest. In fact, she took me to her favorite church in Hope County for the first time three weeks ago and I really enjoyed it."</p><p><br/>After saying that, Savannah could see her older sister's eyebrows knit together in confusion.<br/>"Church? Savannah, you haven't been to church since... You know. I thought you hated it."<br/>"Since mom died. I'm aware Cas, and to be honest I didn't want to go at first when she asked me, but this church is... Different. Everyone there was so friendly and they welcomed me with open arms. The service is not as boring as it was back in Philadelphia and the Father... the way he talks about everything is just... It just sounds right, you know what I mean?" the brunette tried to explain. Cassandra immediately noticed the change in her little sister's body language. The way her voice sounded more excited, the way her eyes started to shine when she talked about this... "Father", and the genuine smile that crept onto Savannah's lips. It immensely confused her that her sister would react that way to something like a church. The raven haired woman sighed and thought hard about her next words.</p><p><br/>"Anything else I should know about all of this?" she asked since she wanted to get a grip of the full spectrum of her sister's new acquaintances before rushing to further conclusions. She noticed how Savannah started to fidget with her fingers at that question. "There's one more thing maybe..."<br/>"Come on, spit it out," Cassy demanded softly. "Can you promise not to be mad?" her little sister asked anxiously. Cassandra sighed at that, bracing herself for whatever confession was to come. "I'll try," was all she could say without lying to her sister.<br/>"The first time I went to the church with Tamara she introduced me to a few people and there was this guy... His name is Brian and... well he's very nice and stuff..." the younger one said and tried to fight off the blush that crept it's way onto her cheeks.</p><p><br/>Cassandra knew that her sister's explanation was vague by choice and that the actual thing she was trying to say was, "Hey Cassy, I met a cute guy and I think I'm in love".<br/>There was a moment of silence between the two sisters before Savannah couldn't handle the tension anymore and just blurted out the part she tried to keep hidden from her sister until she got her full reaction.<br/>"He also invited me to come to a sermon tomorrow and I told him yes,"<br/>Cassandra's eyes shot up at that. "Absolutely not Savannah," it took every ounce in her body to stay calm now. "You know how I feel about you meeting some random guy, especially after what happened with the last one," she explained with a stern look on her face. Savannah looked down at the mention of her ex boyfriend and sighed. "Brian's not a random guy. He's completely different than Grant. I promise."</p><p><br/>Now it was Cassandra's turn to sigh. "Listen, if you wanna see this guy again I want to meet him first. Invite him for dinner or something, I don't care, but you're not gonna go there tomorrow."<br/>Her little sister let out an annoyed huff and stood from her chair. "You're becoming just like dad Cas. This is ridiculous, we're just going to church," she responded with a whine in her voice.<br/>"I'm just trying to look out for you, why don't you understand that?" Cassandra answered while getting up to place the now empty plates and glasses into the sink. After that she turned around and crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, how can I be sure that you're telling the truth about this whole church thing? " she asked, her voice laced with suspicion.</p><p><br/>Savannah's eyes widened at her sister's accusation, anger starting to bubble inside her. "Are you serious right now? You're so paranoid Cas!" the brunette responded. Her sister let out a low chuckle and shook her head.<br/>"Oh am I? I mean it wouldn't be the first time you lied to me, or dad or aunt Mary about going to one place, only to end up getting drunk or high with a bunch of assholes who don't deserve your attention," she argued with a raised voice, not quite yelling but loud enough to make her point.<br/>"I can't believe this. I've been clean for over two years now Cassandra and if you were actually here instead of letting out your anger on some terrorists halfway across the world you would know that!" Savannah now shouted at her sister. In this moment she felt like a child that was arguing with her parents. In her mind all of this was ridiculous. Why couldn't her sister just trust her?</p><p><br/>Cassandra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If it would've been anyone else yelling at her like that her own anger probably would've gotten the better of her, but this was her baby sister and she knew that she would rather cut off her own hand than physically hurt Savannah in any way. She subtly opened and closed the fist of her right hand before taking another deep breath and responded in a calm but firm tone,<br/>"Alright that's enough. As long as you live under my roof you will follow my rules and I'm telling you that your ass is gonna stay home tomorrow. It's my final word on the matter."</p><p><br/>Savannah shook her head and let out another annoyed huff, but before she could yell something else Cassandra left the kitchen and went upstairs to her bedroom.<br/>The young woman sat down on her bed, hands running over her face in an exhausted manner. This was not how she expected the evening to go. She hated arguments with Savannah, she really did, but she also knew that her baby sister tended to be naive when it came to meeting new people. Where Cassandra couldn't trust anyone, Savannah trusted people too fast.<br/>She could understand her sister's need to find someone's to spend the rest of her life with, but after all the tragedies that already took place in their lives she'd be damned if she let anything happen to her too and if that meant a few days of pouting and silent treatment from her sister she would gladly prefer that over having her almost die because of some asshole again.<br/>Glancing down at the beautiful engagement ring that still sat on her finger, despite the fact that her intended was long gone, she quietly wished that in this moment there was someone else she could talk to and share her thoughts with.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Kindness Of Strangers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Chapter 2 summary:<br/>Cassandra drives to Hope County and meets the infamous Seed family.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning Cassandra awoke with a throbbing headache. It wasn't unusual, but still bothersome enough for her to get up and with a groan and walk into the bathroom to find some painkillers.<br/>
After that she went back into her room and glanced at the alarm clock which read 8.39 am. She knew Savannah would be still asleep so the young woman decided to get ready for the day and make some breakfast as a peace offering. <br/>
Cassandra grabbed some fresh clothes from her wardrobe and walked back into the bathroom to take a shower. The hot water felt good on her pale skin and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to relax.</p><p><br/>
When she was done showering she brushed her teeth and got dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, a black sweatshirt with a v-neck and put her hair into a high ponytail. For a moment she eyed the box which contained her make-up and decided that after spending 11 months without any such luxuries it would be nice to use some of it and so she settled on some black mascara and eyeliner that perfectly accentuated her green eyes. Perfecting the look with some rosé colored chapstick she took one last look in the mirror and smiled slightly, happy with the results.</p><p><br/>
Cassandra exited the bathroom and walked in the kitchen to open the fridge. As soon as she did that a frown crossed her features. She really needed to go grocery shopping. Humming to herself, she prepared breakfast with the little supplies she had and after pouring the coffee into a white mug, already filled with some milk and 2 sugars (just like Savannah liked it), she went to her sister's bedroom and knocked on the door.<br/>
"Savannah? Are you up? I've made some breakfast," the dark haired woman said with a soft voice. She waited for a few seconds and after receiving no answer she knocked again. "Come on Sav, don't be like that," Cassandra talked against the door. When at least another minute had passed she started to feel ridiculous and opened the door to her sister's bedroom. As soon as she entered though her eyes grew wide when she realized that Savannah's bed was already made. The older sister checked the room for any notes her sister might have left her but came up empty handed.</p><p><br/>
"Goddammit Sav," she whispered to herself angrily, knowing full well Savannah probably went to Hope County to see this Brian she talked about yesterday.<br/>
The young woman let out a frustrated sigh. She knew she should just let it go and get some chores done until her sister got back home, but the more curious part of her wanted to find out exactly what was so special about this church and the guy she met.<br/>
Deciding that such a roadtrip wouldn't be a great idea with an empty stomach, she went back in the kitchen to eat some of the toast she made. After she finished her morning tea, she put on her black combat boots and grabbed her black leather jacket. Before she left her house though she paused, her hand still on the doorknob.<br/>
She really wanted to believe that her sister told her the truth about everything being as wonderful as she said, but once again her suspicious nature got the better of her and so she rushed back into her room, grabbed the gun her father gave her when she turned 18 and the belt holster from her safe. She smiled down at the gun for a moment. It was a black Beretta M9 with a custom made golden barrel. At the bottom of the grip was a small engraving of her initials. After she was sure she had everything she needed, Cassandra left the house and started her black 2002 Kimberlite S. </p><p><br/>
Unfortunately, Cassandra never took the time to explore Montana when she first moved here and while she heard about the existence of Hope County, she had absolutely no idea how to get there or where to find her sister for that matter.<br/>
For a moment she thought about using the portable navigation system she bought for her car or even Google Maps on her phone, but she was pretty sure both of those systems would crash eventually, leaving her lost since Montana was probably one of the most rural places she's ever been in and so she decided to simply buy a map at the next gas station.</p><p><br/>
The raven haired woman turned on the radio and quietly hummed the tune of the songs she new to calm her nerves. She didn't even know why she was nervous, or why she had the nagging feeling that things wouldn't be as simple as her sister made them out to be.<br/>
While watching the almost non existent traffic, the young woman also focused on the nature around her. She never really took the time for things like that in the past as she was usually just rushing from one place or another when she wasn't staying at home, but it was a 2, maybe 2 and a half hour drive to Hope County and there wasn't really anything else to do.</p><p><br/>
Cassandra noticed how beautiful the scenery was and not at all as busy or full of people like Philadelphia. She found herself enjoying the change. One thing she didn't enjoy though was the next song that started to play on the radio and so she decided to switch the station only to be greeted by a song she's never heard before. Judging by the tune and lyrics it was a country song about a guy named John and Cassandra caught herself bobbing her head along the lines and turning the volume up since the song was quite catchy in her opinion.<br/>
Another thing she noticed was the increasing amount of identical looking white trucks that drove on the opposite lane, all of which had a strange, black symbol painted on them. The young woman's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment but she quickly dismissed it as it occurred to her that even after living in Montana for three years she didn't know much about the state's companies. Cassandra slightly smiled to herself when she saw the sign that read "Falls End".  This small town seemed to be one of the biggest in Hope County, at least from what the map was telling her, and if she wanted to ask people about her sister's whereabouts she might as well drive to a place with some more population.</p><p><br/>
Parking her car in front of a gun shop, she noticed another one of those white trucks that parked in front of what seemed to be a bar across the street. The young woman looked at the gun and holster that was laying on the passenger seat and wondered if she should strap it on. It would be safer for sure, but after scanning the area once again she noticed that everything seemed calm enough and since she only wanted to ask around if anyone might have seen her sister and not scare the locals with a firearm she placed both items in the glove box before exiting her car.<br/>
As soon as she closed the door though, she could hear shouting from across the street.</p><p><br/>
"I already told you and your boss that this bar is not for sale and even if it was, we wouldn't sell it to the likes of you. Now get off my property before I get the shotgun," a blonde haired woman yelled at two bearded men who had just excited the bar.<br/>
Even this far away, Cassandra could see the anger on the two men's faces. "You watch your mouth Fairgrave, if John wanted to, he could just take your little bar. The only reason you're still in business is because of his mercy," one of the men, the taller one, retorted angrily.<br/>
"Go ahead then, let him try. We'll be ready!" the woman shouted back with venom in her voice.</p><p><br/>
Cassandra now saw the other man, the shorter one, put a hand on the taller one's shoulder and whisper something in his ear. After that, they both took went back to the truck and drove off. She wondered what the hell just happened, but shook it off quickly when she remembered the reason she was here.<br/>
The young woman took a look around Falls End again and noticed a church in the distance. Maybe this was the one Savannah was talking about? Then again, there were only two cars parked in front of it and it didn't look exactly like there was a sermon being held today, at least not at the moment, and so she decided to check out the bar, maybe talk to the angry woman. Usually people went to bars to either meet new people or just get wasted. Either way, people talked in there so maybe someone had already seen Savannah.</p><p><br/>
When Cassandra entered the bar, which she saw was called Spread Eagle, she noticed the blonde woman from earlier with the back to her, sorting some bottles on the shelf. There were only three more people in the bar who eyed her like she was from another planet for a moment, but then quickly returned back to their drinks or whatever else they were doing. Deciding to try her look with the woman being the counter, Cassandra cleared her throat to draw attention to her.<br/>
The blonde turned around and gave her a once-over.</p><p><br/>
"I've never seen you here before, are you new?" she asked. Cassy noticed the slight edge in her tone.<br/>
"Just passing through... Looking for someone actually. I thought someone here might be able to help me," she explained with a calm voice.<br/>
"You got a name?" the other woman questioned with a slightly suspicious look on her face.<br/>
"Cassandra Jones, I'm from Missoula," the black haired woman answered and extended a hand for the other woman to take. After another once over the blonde decided that Cassandra wasn't a threat and shook her hand.</p><p><br/>
"Mary May Fairgrave, nice to meet you. So who is it you're looking for?" Mary May asked. At that question, Cassandra took out her phone and opened a picture of her and Savannah before showing it to the other woman.<br/>
"My little sister, Savannah. We got into an argument yesterday and this morning she snuck out of the house although I told her to stay put," she explained.<br/>
"Never seen this one before, sorry. What makes you think she came here?" the blonde then asked.<br/>
"She told me that she wanted to meet some guy named Brian at a church," Cassandra answered, displeased with the lack of information she had.<br/>
"There's a whole lot of churches here, got any specifics?" Mary May inquired with genuine interest. She already had an idea where this conversation was going, but still hoped it was only a coincidence.</p><p><br/>
"Not really, she just said that they wanted to go to a sermon held by a guy named the Father? I don't know, it seems like she was very vague by choice," Cassandra replied, frustration now apparent on her face.<br/>
Mary May let out a quiet sigh, knowing that if this woman's sister was in trouble if she was with the man they call the Father. "Any chance you mean Joseph Seed? People around here, especially the Peggies, like to call him the Father," she told her. Cassandra didn't need to be a detective to notice the displeased look on the bartender's face. <br/>
"I don't know maybe, also what the hell is a Peggie?" she wondered with a confused expression.</p><p>"They're members of the Project at Eden's Gate. Some doomsday cult that settled into the county a few years ago. They pretended to be nice folks at first but shit, some of them are as crazy as a rabid animal. Joseph Seed is their leader," the blonde woman answered truthfully.<br/>
"Like the two men you threatened to gun down a few minutes ago?" Cassandra inquired.<br/>
"Oh you saw that? Yeah that was them alright. Fucking assholes. If they have your sister you're gonna need a goddamn army to get her back. Sorry Cassandra," Miss Fairgrave responded with an almost comforting expression.</p><p><br/>
Cassy let out a sigh and closed her eyes. Of course it wasn't a normal church. What was she thinking? Nothing was ever easy. Still, there was the possibility of this woman exaggerating, or maybe she simply didn't like them because they tried to buy her property. "Where can I find them?" she decided to ask.<br/>
"Listen you can't just walk-"<br/>
"Just tell me, please. I need to find my sister and some countryside preacher sure as shit isn't gonna stop me from taking her home," she was now growing impatient. Cassandra didn't need a lecture, she needed answers.</p><p><br/>
"You've got some spirit, I'll give you that," Mary May stated before finally telling Cassandra where she could find Joseph Seed. <br/>
"Thanks Mary," the black haired woman said and turned to leave when she heard a final "good luck" from Mary May.<br/>
Closing the door behind her once she entered her car, Cassandra opened up the map and looked at the spot Mary May told her to go to. Before she revved the engine though, she took out the gun and holster from the glove box and strapped it on her right hip. If what Mary May told her was true Savannah might be in real trouble even if she didn't realize it yet. </p><p><br/>
The way to what the bartender told Cassandra was called "Joseph's compound" was longer than it looked on the map, and she really hoped that she wouldn't be too late for whatever sermon was going on there.<br/>
As soon as she crossed the road to the island, the high barbed wire fences were the first thing the young woman noticed. It was weird, but nothing she hasn't seen yet. There was a spot where she could take a turn to the left and she took it, following the street. <br/>
<em>This sure as shit is one damn well protected church,</em> she thought.</p><p><br/>
Coming closer to what seemed to be the gate she could already spot people, that were armed with various firearms, and several guard towers. She parked her car at the side and decided to simply ask someone where to find this father. Surely they wouldn't gun her down on sight, or so she hoped.<br/>
With one of her best fake smiles she approached a dark haired man with a thick beard who was wearing a long, black coat and had a rifle in his hands. He looked young and she guessed he must have been in his early twenties. </p><p><br/>
"Uhm hello, excuse me? I'm looking for Joseph Seed. This is his place right?" Cassandra asked with an innocent and friendly voice. "What do you want from him?" the man just asked gruffly. "I'm looking for my sister Savannah, she attended one of his sermons with a man named Brian today? I'm here to pick her up," she further explained. Cassy noticed the change of the man's body language at the mention of Brian's name.<br/>
"Of course ma'am. Sorry, just go along that way, the sermon should be over any moment," the young man responded, now suddenly much more friendly than before. "Thanks," Cassandra only mumbled and walked past him in direction of the church.</p><p><br/>
On her way she noticed people picking up and drying some white plants to her left, a bunch of bunk beds to her right and when she turned her head back to the front she came face to face with a bunch of buildings that had latin words written on them. Just as Cassandra was about to walk though the beautiful white gate she saw the church doors open and people coming out of it, most of them with a smile on their faces. Some of them stared at her when she passed them, probably wondering who the hell she was. The young woman decided to act cool about it. Go into the church, get Savannah and drive home. Simple.</p><p><br/>
As soon as Cassandra entered the church she could see her sister talking to a shirtless man. She noticed that his body was covered in tattoos and that his dark hair was pulled neatly into a manbun. Her sister was dressed in a pretty, light purple dress, a pair of white flats and a white Jean-Jacket. Her hair was curled and left open and Cassy noticed that whatever the conversation she was having with that man seemed to make her happy. To her sister's left stood a tall man with blonde hair and a blonde beard, conversing with another man with darker hair and a dark beard. There was another young woman that was exceptionally beautiful, dressed in a white lace dress with flowery details on it. She was talking to some random churchgoers on the far right side.<br/>
The last thing that caught Cassandra's eye was a very tall, broad shouldered man with red hair and an equally as red beard standing behind the guy without a shirt, arms crossed over his chest. She noticed that he was the only one who currently wasn't engaging in some sort of conversation, rather scanning the room or when he noticed her walking closer, scanning her. Even from afar he looked pretty intimidating and she wondered if he was some sort of security person around here but was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her sister's voice.</p><p><br/>
"Cassy?! What are you doing here?" Savannah asked with a shocked look on her face.<br/>
Cassandra noticed that now everyone's attention was on her, something she didn't exactly enjoy but nevertheless she didn't falter and continued to walk to the front of the church with confidence in her steps. Ignoring everyone around her she now stood in front of her sister and said with a calm but firm voice, "I'm taking you home, now."<br/>
"Excuse me, I think Savannah here is old enough to decide when she goes home and right now it doesn't look like she wants to leave," a voice to her left said. The dark haired woman scoffed with a simultaneously confused and amused expression on her face and turned to face the man to her left. She gave him a once over and noticed that he was about 5"11 tall and had grey eyes.</p><p><br/>
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" Cassandra replied, the hint of amusement that crossed her face mere seconds ago was now replaced with a cold expression. She really wasn't in the mood for bullshit right now.<br/>
"The name's Brian Parker, Miss?"<br/>
"It's Sergeant Jones actually. Now let me give you a small piece of advice Mr. Parker: when I'm having a conversation with my little sister you should stay out of it," the young woman replied with a hint of aggression in her voice. So this was the guy who all the fuss was all about huh? So far the only good thing Cassandra could get from him was his facial bone structure, but maybe she was biased.</p><p><br/>
Meanwhile Savannah was watching their conversation with an anxious expression. She knew that Cassandra had a short temper these days and she really didn't want this situation to turn from uncomfortable to bad, so she decided to gently place her right hand on her older sister's right shoulder and spoke softly, "Cassy, please don't." Fortunately for her the gesture seemed to work when she felt her big sister loosen up slightly. Savannah took this as a sign to apologise to the shirtless man she was talking to earlier. "I'm really sorry about this Father, my sister can be a bit overprotective at times, but she only means well."</p><p><br/>
Her older sister was now watching their conversation with interest. So this was the Father? Sure as hell didn't look like a preacher, Cassandra thought.<br/>
"It's alright child, family is a very important factor in our lives and must be protected," the Father said and was now looking directly at Cassy. She noticed that his eyes held an unusually bright shade of blue behind his yellow aviators. His demeanor was calm and his eyes seemed sincere but nevertheless the older sister had a weird feeling about this guy.<br/>
The Father eyed her for another few seconds, his gaze briefly flicking down at the dog tags around her neck, before extending his hand to her. "Joseph Seed, it's nice to finally meet you. Your sister already told us a thing or two about you," he said with a small smile on his face.<br/>
Cassandra's brows furrowed in confusion. Her eyes quickly glanced over to Savannah before returning to the man's hand and finally his face. She wasn't really interested in engaging smalltalk with Joseph Seed, but her parents raised her to have good manners and so she shook his hand and replied with a simple, "Cassandra Jones."<br/>
"How did you even find me?" Savannah's voice now interrupted. Her big sister how turned back to her and answered, "Bought a map a gas station and then asked a bartender in Falls End if she knew something, right after I noticed her kicking out two of your guys. They seemed pretty pissed about it," Cassandra explained, looking back at the Father.</p><p><br/>
"See Joseph, I told you this was going to happen. This woman can't be reasoned with," an irritated voice to her left interrupted. It was the guy Brian was talking to earlier and Cassandra now noticed that he had similar aviators as Joseph's resting on his head, only his were blue. His hands were covered in tattoos and she expected there to be more on his forearms that were currently hidden by his expensive looking coat. "Maybe we should finally think about a change of strategy," he then added, frustration clearly written all over his face. "Enough John, I can see your sin once again preventing you from seeing things rationally. We will discuss this matter later," Joseph responded with a calm voice.<br/>
Cassandra noticed the clearly younger man lowering his head slightly. He stopped his complaining at once. To her, he almost looked like a child that was being scolded by his parents. "Yes Joseph," he only replied quickly.</p><p>Cassandra thought that now was a good time to leave since there was clearly something else going on she didn't exactly wish to be a part of. She just wanted to have her sister back home with her. "I guess now would be a good time to take our leave. Savannah and I also still have a few things to talk about," the raven haired woman then said with impatience in her voice.</p><p><br/>
The Father glanced over at the younger sister who only smiled in return.<br/>
"It's alright. I'm going with her," she assured him and then turned back to her sister. "Just let me say goodbye at least," she asked softly and with pleading eyes. Cassandra wondered why she seemed to care so damn much about these people. "Make it quick," the older one replied shortly and took a step back, giving her sister some space. She then crossed her arms over her chest and let her view wander around once more.<br/>
She noticed Savannah hugging Brian, after that her eyes shifted over to John who she noticed was already eyeing her up and down rather obviously. Cassandra had to admit that he was ridiculously attractive, even if he wasn't exactly her usual type.</p><p><br/>
Her eyes shortly wandered over to Joseph, who was watching Savannah and Brian, and at last to the redhead who still stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. He too, eyed her up and down, but with a different look in his eyes as John. This man wasn't undressing her mentally but rather sizing her up.<br/>
Deciding that two could play this game she gave him a once-over, noticing the dog tags around his own neck, the many scars on his forearms and the gun and knife strapped to his thigh. He was definitely more muscular than everyone else in the room. When her eyes found their way up to the man's face again (on which she also noticed multiple scars), she could see that the corner of his mouth was turned up into a little, almost missable smirk. It was a change from the cold and hard stare he gave her before and she wondered what so fucking funny was. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra was once again pulled from her thoughts when she noticed her sister crossing the room to hug the small woman in the white dress with a smile. "Thank you for coming today," the young woman said with a warm smile on her face. "Of course Faith," she could hear her sister reply before walking back to her. The last woman she umarmed was her friend Tamara, who stood next to Faith. After she was done, she walked back over to her sister.</p><p><br/>
"Ready to go?" Cassy asked her with a raised eyebrow.<br/>
"Ready to go," Savannah replied softly.<br/>
Without glancing back the black haired woman turned to leave when Joseph Seed's words once again filled the room. "Before I forget it, we're hosting a small barbeque after next week's sermon and I'd be happy to see you there Savannah. You too Cassandra." Another look of confusion crossed Cassandra's face at that.</p><p><br/>
"Let me get this straight, I come in here, ruin your little gathering and you're inviting me to bible studies and barbeque?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. Joseph smiled at Cassandra's statement. "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for therby some have entertained angels unawares," he replied in a calm voice. The older sister raised an eyebrow, but her lips were still turned into a small smile. "We'll think about," she just said before giving Savannah a small nudge followed by a "come on". Once the two sisters had left the church they made their way back to Cassandra's car and drove back home to Missoula.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Bible Studies and Barbeque</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cassandra and Savannah go to an Eden's Gate barbeque and things escalate rather quickly.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Author note: Thanks for everyone who is reading this story. If you like it, why don't you leave kudos and maybe a comment. I'm always happy about those. :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say that Cassandra was displeased with her sister's decision to go against her orders was an understatement. Nevertheless she was glad to have Savannah back home with her safely. She thought about how Mary May pictured the people at the church as maniacs and even though she could feel a strange tingeling in her stomach when she entered the compound she wouldn't exactly call them maniacs. They gave her back her sister without too much fuss and although it was strange to her that almost everyone inside and outside of this church was carrying some sort of firearm she guessed they were probably just overprotective over their property and people, a thought that the young woman could actually get behind. Besides, this was america, guns were a natural thing for people to have over here. <br/>
After another argument with her younger sister that involved a lot of scolding and "you could have gotten hurt" Cassandra thought it would be best to call it a day. She would take care of the missing grocerys tomorrow.</p><p>The following week wasn't very eventful. Cassandra spent most of her "vacation" at home apart from a trip to the grocery store, her jogs in the mornings or evenings and that one shopping trip to the city. Meanwhile Savannah continued her education at the College that wasn't far away from their home, complaining about all the assignments she had to take care of. It wasn't her initial choice to go to college, Cassandra had talked her into it because she always said that at least one of them should have an extra bit of education and while Savannah knew that her sister was probably right she wasn't very happy at college. </p><p><br/>
On Saturday, the inevitable conversation of the barbeque the next day needed to be held, which was of course initiated by Savannah. Cassy wasn't too keen on having to see Joseph and his merry band of gunslingers again, let alone sit through a long ass sermon, but Savannah asked her with the best puppy dog eyes she could manage and so she eventually gave in. It wasn't the puppy dog eyes that made her agree though, at least not entirely. <br/>
Everytime Eden's Gate and their people were mentioned by Savannah, Cassandra could see the geniune joy on her little sister's face. In fact she hadn't seen her sister so happy about anything the past years as she was when Cassandra agreed to go with her to this damn barbeque. Cassandra wanted her sister to be happy, more than anything, but she also wanted her to be safe. There was still this small nagging voice at the back of her mind that told her these people could be trouble, but this time she decided to ignore it for her sister's sake. Besides, she was with her and could protect her if need be.</p><p>
  <strong>Sunday, April 23rd at Joseph's compound</strong>
</p><p><br/>
When the two women arrived at Joseph's compound, Cassandra parked at the same spot she did the last time. They exited the car and walked in direction of the church. The older sister noticed some people to her left, preparing everything for the barbeque which was being held after the sermon. The white plants from last time where crammed together in a corner and the now free spot was used for benches, tables and grills. Today was the perfect weather for a barbeque, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and it wasn't too cold. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra was dressed in a dark green dress with a v-neck. The dress went just over her knees. Her combat boots from last time were replaced with a pair of still comfortable, black, 4-inch heels and she was wearing her black leather jacket in case the sun decided to hide behind some clouds for too long. Her long, black hair was left open today and she decided to wear her typical black eyeliner and black mascara. Her sister Savannah wore a light yellow dress combined with her light blue jean-jacket and some yellow flats and just like her sister, her beautiful, brown hair was left open. As for the make-up, she decided to go with some light brown eye-shadow, fine lines of eyeliner, some mascara, and a rose colored lipstick.</p><p><br/>
As soon as the two sisters had made their way into the church, Savannah was greeted by Brian with a hug and a small kiss on the cheek. "Hello Cassandra, it's nice to see you're here too. I think the two of us had a bad start last time. I'm sorry for that," the blonde male said with a friendly tone in his voice. Cassy had to admit that she wasn't a fan of this man the first time they met, but she could see that he was trying to be more friendly now. "It's fine," she just answered, not letting him off the hook just yet but still appreciating the effort. </p><p><br/>
Savannah's friend Tamara also came up to her, giving her a hug. "Oh Cassy, this is Tamara by the way. I didn't really introduce you to each other the last time," Savannah explained with a smile. "Hi, it's nice to meet you," the young woman said with a friendly smile, extending her hand to Cassandra. She didn't look older than 18 and probably wasn't. "It's nice to meet you too Tamara," the raven haired woman replied with a small smile of her own.<br/>
Cassandra noticed that the church was pretty filled by now and when Joseph Seed, who was already inside the church from the beginning, raised his hands and let out a "please, let us begin" everyone immediatly took a seat and became silent. The young woman saw that he was wearing a white shirt and a grey suit jacket as opposed to no shirt at all like last week. Brian, Savannah and Cassandra took their seats on a pew in the middle, with Cassandra sitting next to the way out if something should go wrong. When the discussion about coming here this weekend first started she insisted on bringing her gun with her. Her plan was it to put it in a thigh holster under her dress to not make it too obvious, but her sister protested and said that it really wasn't necessary and even if something should go wrong this one gun wouldn't be much of a help anyway. Begrudlingly, Cassy agreed and left it at home.</p><p><br/>
The sermon was longer than she expected. Today's topic was family and frienship and that they needed to be protected at all costs, especially with something that he called 'the collapse' coming one day. The collapse. What was it Mary May said to her last week about those people being a doomsday cult? Looks like she wasn't wrong about that part at least. <br/>
Even though Cassandra found herself agreeing with some of the man's points, the whole apocalypse part was a bit too much for her taste. He seemed to be very passionate about all of this though, and charismatic. She could see why people might be drawn to him, especially people who were lost or lonely. Joseph Seed included them, made them feel welcomed and loved.</p><p><br/>
The dark haired woman managed to listen to Josephs's words for about 20 minutes or so, but after that she rather focused on scanning the area. She noticed that everyone in this church paid attention to the man at the front. Cassandra had been to churches before, but every now and then someone would look down at their phone, talk to the person next to them or look around the room. Here it was completely different. Here, they literally clung to every word the Father said and he said a lot.<br/>
As her view swayed over the room, she noticed someone staring at her. Realizing it was the tall, redheaded man from last time she returned his gaze for a moment. The two of them basically were doing the same thing. Scanning the room and looking for potential danger.</p><p><br/>
Once the sermon was over everyone slowly left the church after they were asked to meet up at the area Cassandra ealier saw being set up as a barbeque corner. The young woman walked behind Brian and Savannah, who were holding hands and happily chatting about today's sermon. <br/>
When they reached their meet up place, Cassy noticed that it was fully set up now. The tables were decorated with white table runners that had the black symbol of Eden's Gate on them. Plates, glasses and cutlery was laid out and some of the food like salads or bread was also already put on the tables. The rest of the food, the meat, was still on the three grills. The young woman had to admit that it looked impressive.</p><p><br/>
As the three of them were about to sit down on a bench in the back they heard Joseph's voice calling out to them. "Brian, why don't you and your two companions come over here? Have a seat with me, my brothers and sister." "It would be my pleasure, Father," Brian replied with a smile and nudged the two women in direction of one of the front tables. When they arrived, Cassandra already saw Joseph sitting at the table, of course at the front. The dark haired man with the blue sunglasses and expensive coat, John, was sitting to his right and the mysterious, tall ginger to Joseph's left. <em>So they were brothers, interesting.</em> Cassy thought and then mentally slapped herself for not noticing this sooner. Of course they were, all three of them had the same shade of way too blue, ocean eyes.</p><p><br/>
"Why don't you come over here my dear," the young woman heard John say to her. He smiled at her charmingly and offered her a hand to help her sit down on the bench with her heels. "Thanks," the young woman mumbled quietly after taking his hand and sitting down. The younger, blonde woman with the flowery dress, Faith, Cassandra remembered, sat next down to the redhead she still didn't know the name of. So that's his sister. <em>Weird, she's the only one without blue eyes.</em> The dark haired woman thought to herself. Savannah sat herself next to Faith and Brian took his seat opposite of her, next to Cassandra.</p><p><br/>
When everyone was seated some random group, or dare she yet say cult members, filled their plates with various kinds of meat, of course only for those who weren't vegetarians. All of this sure looked pretty tasty Cassandra had to admit. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Before she could lift her fork and take a bite of whatever meat was in front of her the Father insisted on a prayer before the meal. <em>Of course he did</em>, Cassy thought, slightly amused. <br/>
Once the prayer had been spoken though, everyone was free to dig into their food. To say that the meat was good was an understatement, it was excellent, most certainly freshly hunted and not bought at a grocery store. Cassandra honestly couldn't remember the last time she ate meat this good. Joseph noticed the pleased expression on her face while she was eating. He used that as a way to start a conversation with the closed off woman he didn't know much about yet. "Cassandra, it's good to see you and your sister decided to join us today. How do you like the food so far?" he asked with a small smile. </p><p><br/>
The young woman swallowed and looked at Joseph. "I have to admit this is probably one of the best pieces of meat I've ever eaten, if not the best," she replied truthfully. Joseph's smile grew at that. "Brother Jacob and his best hunters were so kind to contribute some their hunted animals to this meal. I'm glad you like it," he answered while gesturing to the redhead sitting to his left. So Jacob, that was the mystery man's name. <br/>
Cassandra shortly glanced at him with a small smile and then back at Joseph before trying to continue eating. Of course this would turn out to be harder than expected when Joseph asked the next question. "How did you like the sermon earlier? Savannah already told me that you aren't the most religious person, so I wonder what you think about all of this."</p><p><br/>
The young woman shortly glanced to her sister, wondering what else she might have told them about her. "My sister is right, I am not very religious, but I can see that you're very passionate about what you're doing here and I can respect that," Cassandra responded kindly. Usually, if she would have heard someone preach about the end of the world, she would have just called it a bunch of bullshit, but in this case Joseph Seed and his family were nothing but welcoming to her and so she restrained herself from giving any snarky remark she could have given. Sure, the world probably was gonna end one day, but the young woman doubted that it was going to happen anytime soon. <br/>
"I understand that it's hard for some people to wrap their heads around the impending doom, but I assure you that the words god whispered to me are going to come true and when they do, me and everyone who agrees to join us will be safe from the collapse," Joseph explained. Cassandra wasn't in the mood to start a discussion right now and so she just smiled at him and continued eating. </p><p><br/>
Much to her relief the Father let her be for the moment and rather focused on asking Savannah about her week. The younger sister had just answered his question about what job she would like to have one day when Joseph once again focused on getting to know Cassandra more. "And what about you Cassandra? I've heard you're in the army. Do you like it there?" he asked with his usual calm and friendly voice.<br/>
"I do," the older sister just responded, before digging back into the salad she had gotten herself why Joseph was busy talking to Savannah. "What's your MOS?" a rough voice asked and Cassandra immediately lifted her head, wondering who the voice belonged to until her eyes landed on the readhead. It was the first time she heard him speak. He was looking at her now, waiting for an answer. "11B," Cassandra told him.</p><p><br/>
"What's that supposed to mean?" John piped up from beside her, obviously confused. "It means I'm an infantryman... or woman. I'm in the 1st Infantry Division," she answered while glancing at the younger Seed. "How many deployments did you have?" Jacob then wanted to know. The young woman noticed that he seemed to be very interested in her military background. "So far 5 in the past 8 years. I'm supposed to give my superiors an answer for reenlistment until the May 1st and the only person who doesn't like this idea is sitting right there," Cassy explained while casually pointing her thumb at her younger sister.</p><p><br/>
"You know I'm just worried about you. I mean if you really want to keep your gun you could just try to work for some security company," Savannah interfered with a soft voice. Her older sister sighed at that. "You know having to protect rich, old, white guys on their way to the casino because they senselessly want to throw out money and cheat on their wives isn't exactly how I want to spend the rest of my life Sav," the black haired woman replied dryly. She knew her sister only meant well, but she would rather die fighting in some desert than doing security work for snobs. </p><p><br/>
"Look I just don't want you to end up like dad okay?" the younger sister complained. That statement made Cassandra pause for a moment. She guessed that Brian and the others probably already knew about their parents deaths but she wasn't sure how much they knew about it. Besides, having her sister outright say it like that shocked her for a moment, especially since the younger one knew how close Cassandra and their father were. It was a special bond Savannah and him never managed to acquire, she was their mother's favorite child instead. </p><p><br/>
There was a short silence at the table before Joseph Seed filled it with another question. "Your father was in the army too?" he asked with curiosity. Cassandra took a deep breath before looking at the Father. "75th Ranger Regiment, he was one of the best and bravest men I ever knew," the young woman responded with pride. To her, their father had always been someone she looked up to and aspired to be like even though he wasn't home much. He had taught her a lot when he was still alive. <br/>
If she wasn't so distracted with looking in Joseph's eyes she probably would have noticed Jacob pausing for a moment. His brother did notice, but didn't comment on it. Instead he decided to ask Cassandra another question. "You two were close I take it?" God this man was curious. "We were, I admired him a great deal," Cassandra responded truthfully. Joseph nodded at that. "It's good to hear that you had a good relationship with your father, not everyone has that privilige," he added. </p><p><br/>
The young woman's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion for a second, but she quickly masked it with her normal expression. Still, she wondered what Joseph meant with that. Did he not have a stable relationship with his father? Was that why he wanted to build something big and important? Because he was never good enough in his father's eyes? A lot of questions were running through Cassandra's head now.</p><p><br/>
After that, the table had become silent again, but of course it didn't last long. This time it was Faith who broke the silence when she saw Cassandra grab the glass caraffe to fill her glass with water. "That's a beautiful ring you have," she commented with a soft smile. The black haired woman paused for a second and looked at Faith, wondering if she meant her. When she was sure that the small, blonde woman did in fact mean her, she mumbled a quiet "thanks". </p><p>"May I?" the blonde then asked and extended her hand. Cassy knew that this meant she wanted to see the ring up close. She sighed and hesitated for a moment, but in the end she extended her right hand and placed it in Faith's, hoping she would drop the topic after that. "Wow, it's so sparkly," Faith told her with a light chuckle. <br/>
"And expensive too," John now commented while taking a good look at the ring himself. "I'm not an expert but I'm sure that this ring is probably worth at least 20.000 $," he added after some further inspection. Cassandra grew impatient now. She really didn't want to talk about the ring or anything that had to do with it, besides she had already done more socializing today than she was comfortable with. "I don't know, and I don't really care," the young woman just responded and pulled her hand back. She really hoped that this would be the end of this discussion, but of course it wasn't.</p><p><br/>
"What's his name? Maybe he can accompany you the next time you come here, if the Father allows it," the blonde woman simply continued with a happy voice. Cassandra was now struggling to control the annoyance and anger that had started to build within her. Why couldn't Faith just drop it? "I don't think that's gonna happen," she replied with a slight edge and annoyance in her voice. Savannah had noticed the tension that radiated off her big sister as soon as Faith started mentioning the ring. It was one thing to talk about their dead father with Cassandra, the younger sister knew that she had somehow learned to deal with his death over the years. Talking about Andrew's death though? That was another thing entirely and always ended with her big sister shutting her out and ending the conversation.</p><p><br/>
"Why not? I'd very much like to meet him," Faith then said, either not noticing or not caring about Cassandra's obvious discomfort. "Faith, I think maybe we should talk about something else," Savannah interrupted, obviously trying to help her sister out, a gesture Cassandra greatly appreciated. "Oh I'm sorry Sav, I was just being curious," the blonde woman answered with an honest smile. The older sister let out a small breath at that and looked at her sister with appreciation.</p><p><br/>
"Actually, I'm curious about this mystery man too. Usually a woman would be proud to introduce her fiance to people, especially after receiving such a beautiful ring," John Seed then butted in. Cassandra had to take another breath. What the hell was he thinking? "Unless... He has something to hide," the younger Seed brother added with a smug grin. That was it. This man obviously knew that she did not want to talk about her fiance and as if continuing to ask questions anyway wasn't disrespectful enough he also had the audacity to accuse Andrew of being shady without knowing him. Cassandra had enough of this bullshit. </p><p><br/>
 "He's dead okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you fucking happy now?" the young woman snapped at him with a raised voice and an angry expression. If looks could kill, John Seed would've dropped dead right at that moment. Immediately, all the other conversations across the tables stopped. Everybody was staring at her now, but she didn't care. John stared back at her with a slightly shocked expression, he was expecting her to snap at him but not like this. This wasn't just an annoyed outburst, this was something more. This was fury. Wrath. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra stood up from her seat. "Cassy please," her sister tried to calm her down. "No," she just angrily replied and left the bench. "Wait, where are you going?" Savannah wanted to know with a confused expression. "I need some air," her older sister answered, her face still twisted in a scowl. "Cassandra we're outside." "No shit Savannah," Cassandra now yelled at her sister and turned back at her for a second. The brown haired woman knew not to push it any further and decided to keep her mouth shut. Pleased with that reaction, Cassandra walked away from the barbeque and in direction of the church, or rather the lake that was on the left next to the church. She needed to be alone and clear her head.</p><p><br/>
Jacob had noticed Cassandra's discomfort with the whole conversation from the beginning, but instead of interrupting Faith, like her little sister did, he decided to study the older sister's reactions. When John had finally said something to make her snap he studied how she reacted with anger and violence as soon as someone pushed her too far into a corner.<br/>
It reminded him of the wild animals, especially wolves, that had been trapped in his cages before his men tamed them and turned them into killing machines. In that moment Jacob wondered what it would be like to tame her and turn her into one of his soldiers. She certainly had the fire and from what she had said earlier she might even have the talent to become someone important in his ranks, perhaps even a chosen. Still, there was this one, nagging thought in the back of his mind. He needed to ask her about it at some point, but now probably wasn't the best time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Offer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Joseph talks to Cassandra about her outburst and makes her an offer. Savannah does something she shouldn't and Jacob takes a liking to the fierce raven haired woman.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the initial shock about Cassandra's outburst had subsided, John Seed's own anger started to bubble inside him. How did she dare embarass him in front of all these people? He was a Herald, one of Joseph's most trusted, and she had the audacity to snap at him like this in public. His face started to twist in a scowl and he was about to get up to go after her when he felt Joseph's hand on his left wrist. Looking at his older brother, John noticed that Joseph shook his head slightly, symbolizing him to leave her be. With an annoyed huff, he relaxed back onto his seat. </p><p><br/>
When Cassandra was out of sight, her little sister let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and closed her eyes for a moment. The young woman saw the angry look on John's face and was glad that the Father silently told him to stop. If he hadn't done that, Savannah knew that poor John probably would've needed an ambulance. She could still feel the tension radiating off everybody, even if most people had already resumed to their previous conversations. She needed to fix this. Opening her eyes again, she saw Brian giving her a pityful look across from her.</p><p><br/>
"I'm sorry about that," the brown haired woman spoke up, now looking at the Father. "She wasn't always like that, it's just a sensitive topic," she added. Joseph looked at her with sympathy. "I accept your apology child, although I can understand that losing ones fiance can result in a big amount of grief," he answered truthfully and with his usual, calm voice. The Father knew none of this was Savannah's fault, so there was no reason for him to yell at her. "Do you know what happened to him?" Joseph then asked. Since the beginning of this whole conversation he had been curious too, but decided to let his siblings do the talking. After their failure though, he thought getting information from Cassandra's little sister was much more easy since she seemed to be a very compliant person. </p><p><br/>
"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to talk about this. I don't want her to be mad at me," Savannah replied, knowing full well that her big sister liked her privacy when it came to certain topics. "I understand of course, but we don't mean her any harm. We're just trying to help," Joseph pushed further. The young woman let out a sigh. She knew she really shouldn't talk about this, but maybe there was a chance the Father could help. </p><p><br/>
"To be honest I'm not even completely sure. She never talks about him." Another hesitant sigh. "His name was Andrew Graves. He was a member of Cassy's unit in the army. The two of them clicked as soon as they met, some would call it love at first sight but Cassy isn't that cheesy. He was a great guy, I liked him a lot even if he was like 15 years older than her. I don't even know how he died, I just know that something went wrong on a mission and that he and another of her friends didn't make it. After that she just... completely shut everyone out except for me. I tried talking to her about this, but she just ends the conversation everytime," Savannah explained. "It's not your fault, some people need longer to open up about things like that," Joseph tried to encourage her. </p><p><br/>
"It's been four years Father and if she doesn't open up to me about this she's not gonna talk to anyone else either. She's as subborn as our dad was," the young woman said with a sigh. She didn't remember exactly how many times she tried to help her sister, but Cassandra just wouldn't let her. She always said that it wasn't stuff she was supposed to hear and should rather focus on her own problems than sharing her's too. Savannah knew her sister just tried to protect her, but it was getting tiring over time.</p><p><br/>
Joseph then rose from his seat and Savannah had a sneaking suspicion about what he was trying to do. "I really wouldn't bother her when she's like this," the young woman mumbled silently, but still loud enough for Joseph to hear. "Don't worry child, just have a little faith," he replied with a soft smile and went off in direction of the lake. I doubt faith is gonna help you when she's seconds away to rip your throat out, the young woman thought to herself. After that, Savannah as well as some of his followers watched him leave in direction of the lake.</p><p><br/>
Meanwhile, Cassandra was already sitting on the small wooden dock, her black heels neatly placed beside her and her feet in the water. It was still very cold, as expected for this time of year, but the woman didn't care, she just needed to take a deep breath and be alone for a moment. While watching the landscape, she once again noticed how beautiful living in the countryside could be. If it wasn't for the youngest Seed brother, or all of the Seeds with their annoying questions, she might've even enjoyed herself. </p><p><br/>
In her opinion John was the most irritating. Joseph simply annoyed her with all his questions and curiosity. Faith backed down once her sister told her she was crossing a line, a gesture she greatly appreciated. The only thing that might irritate her about the woman was that she didn't quite seem to be fully there, like she was high, or maybe she was just overly friendly, who knows. Either way, she wasn't nearly as irritating as John. And that left Jacob, the tall, quiet soldier. Out of all the Seeds, he was probably the least irritating to her. If Cassandra had to pick one of them to spend a whole day with, it probably would be him, since he was quiet, mostly kept to himself and when he asked a question, it was straight to the point. Similar to herself if she thought about it further. </p><p><br/>
Her train of thought was interrupted though, when she heard footsteps approach her from behind. They were too heavy to be her sister's and so she could only hope that it wasn't John. He was the least person she wanted to see right now. "May I sit down with you for a moment?" a calm voice behind her asked and she immediately knew that it was Joseph. <em>Not much better</em>, she thought, but at least it wasn't his little brother. </p><p><br/>
Without turning around she anwered, "I'd rather be alone right now," in the hopes that he would just leave her be but of course, he didn't. "It's not gonna take long, I promise," the Father replied, his voice still calm. Wasn't he annoyed with her stubbornness by now? She was really surprised at that point. Cassandra let out a loud sigh and didn't answer. Seeing as she neither accepted nor declined his request he simply pulled off his shoes and sat down next to her. </p><p><br/>
<em>Great, now he's also invading my personal space</em>, the black haired woman thought and rolled her eyes in her head. "It's a beautiful view isn't it?" Joseph commented when he, too, stared at the lake and sorrounding forest. "It is," Cassandra simply replied, wondering if he came all this way back here just to comment on the scenery.<br/>
They sat in silence for a moment and this time, surprisingly, Cassandra was the one who broke it. "Let me guess, as soon as I was gone my sister told you everything you wanted to know although she knows I wouldn't approve," the young woman said with a monotone voice, still staring at the lake. The Father looked over at her. "You shouldn't be mad at her, she is worried about you and just wants to help. We were all worried when we saw your reaction to John's question," he replied.<br/>
Cassandra scoffed at that and then finally turned her head to look him in the eyes. "Bullshit, your brother knew eaxctly what he was doing. He wanted to get a reaction out of me, and he got it," the young woman stated matter of factly with a hint of aggression in her voice. </p><p><br/>
"You have to excuse his behavior. He used to be a lawyer. Now he serves as our Inquisitor and takes the confessions from all the new members who are going to join the project. I guess you could say old habits die hard. I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you," Joseph tried to reassure her. Cassandra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean by 'he takes people's confessions?'" the young woman asked.</p><p><br/>
"Each of our people was full of sin before they decided to devote their lives to the project. Before someone is allowed to be a part of this community they need to be cleansed and atone for the sins they have commited in the past. John is helping those lost souls to expose their sins by asking them various questions and mark their bodies afterwards. Only then can they start a new life and await the impending doom in safety," the Father explained while looking directly into Cassandra's eyes. <br/>
The young woman took a moment to process the new information she had just been given. So that's why he has so many words carved into his skin, she realized. To her, all of this seemed to be a touch too much, perhaps even a tad bit insane. It almost seemed like the more time she spent around the Seeds the more she could understand why Mary May thought of them as lunatics, but for now she kept those thoughts to herself.</p><p><br/>
A moment of silence passed between them as Cassandra decided to turn her head back in direction of the lake. "You know, you and John aren't as different as you think, at least not in one aspect," Joseph suddenly said. The young woman to his left immediately turned her attention back to him and looked at him with a confused and irritated expression. <br/>
"Both of you have a lot of pain and anger bottled up inside you that was caused by trauma you never completely learned how to deal with and once it explodes it's like a hot kettle that was left on the stove for too long," he elaborated. The dark haired woman thought about his words for moment. She wondered what kind of John might've been through because to her he looked like a cocky, rich man that couldn't deal with something not going his way.</p><p><br/>
"Maybe you're right about that, but that still doesn't give him the right to be disrespectful to people without a good reason," Cassandra finally replied. "You're right about that," Joseph had to admit. He remembered that from the day he had reconnected with his younger brother he always needed to teach him how to stay calm, control his anger and not let it out at the smallest inconvenience. It was tiring at times, but Joseph was a patient man.<br/>
"You know I understand the pain you're going through right now. Better than most people would," he then told her with a sympathetic expression. "I doubt that very much," the young woman replied and decided to avert her eyes back at the lake. "I was married once. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on and certainly more than I deserved," the man explained while also looking at the lake. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra lowered her gaze at that. He seemed to want to talk about this and that's why she asked "What happened?" "It was an accident, car crash, nobody's fault really, but it still hurts to this day," the Father explained and Cassy could feel the sadness radating off of him. It was the same sadness that haunted her every day and that was when she knew he must have really loved that woman. "I'm sorry," was the only thing she could reply. She knew from experience that nothing anyone said would make it hurt any less, but sometimes it was good to know that another person reacted with sympathy to this terrible information. <br/>
"It was god's will, I understand that now. Without her passing I probably would have never built this place, but thank you nevertheless," he answered, still looking at the lake. I guess that's one way to cope with it, Cassandra thought to herself. She knew that everyone grieved differently, and while she was just bitter and angry most of the time, he seemed to need to find a reason in his loss. If that helped him to sleep at night, she could respect that.</p><p><br/>
"I know that you feel the need to deal with your problems by yourself, but sometimes it's easier to share this burden with someone who wants to help," Joseph then said to switch the topic back to her. "Thanks for the advice but I think I'll pass," the young woman replied dryly. Joseph slightly smiled to himself, that woman really was stubborn, but he could also see her strength and sense of honor. He was sure that once she was truly commited to someone or something, her loyalty would be unwavering.<br/>
"Still, knowing you a bit better now, I think that you have a lot of good qualities. Your sister too. You two would make a wonderful addition to the project," he said, finally informing her of the true intentions he had since he invited her to the barbeque. In that moment it was like something clicked in her brain. Of course he wasn't just trying to be nice last week. This was his plan since he beggining, gaining new followers to his cause. She couldn't blame him for this though, since gaining followers probably was the goal of every cult leader.</p><p><br/>
The young woman turned her head to face him and was about to decline his offer when she suddenly heard a gunshot. For a moment her eyes widened in panic when she realized that the sound wasn't too far away and without a second's hesitation she stood up, dried her feet as best as she could and put her heels back on. Her initial panic didn't subside when the one gunshot turned into multiple ones and she quickly made her way in direction of the sound. "Wait up, that's probably just some of the men training at the gun range," Joseph yelled after her and stood up himself. Cassandra stopped in her tracks for a moment and turned in his direction. "Which way?" she just asked impatiently. The Father quickly put his shoes back on and walked over to her. "This way," he replied and led the way.</p><p><br/>
Once they stepped through the door that seperated the small training area from the rest of the compound, Cassandra could see a bunch of men standing at the gun range to her left. She noticed Jacob Seed overseeing the shooting with his hands crossed above his chest. It wasn't an unusual sight to her, watching a bunch of men train, but what caused her to both simultaniously panic and get angry was when she saw Brian at the far left stand handing his gun over to her little sister. <em>This guy has got to be kidding me</em>, the young woman thought angrily and went in direction of the pair.</p><p><br/>
"Savannah, what do you think you're doing?" Cassandra asked with a raised voice. "Brian just wanted to teach me how to shoot a gun," her little sister replied innocently. Savannah didn't think that it was that much of a big deal, but then again, her older sister had been majorly overprotective since their parents died. "Absolutely not, give me that," the black haired woman replied with a stern voice and held out the palm of her right hand, ready to take the black 1911 from her sister. <br/>
"Why? I just want to try, it's not like I'm planning to kill someone," the brunette complained with a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. "Because this is not a toy, it's dangerous," Cassandra explained. She didn't understand why Savannah wanted to do this now, she's never been interested in guns before, quite the opposite really. If Cassandra wasn't so busy scolding her little sister she might've noticed Jacob Seed watching their conversation intently rather than checking up on the men who were still practicing their gun skills.</p><p><br/>
"I never said it was. Besides, dad started teaching you when you were 10. I'll be careful, I promise," Savannah stated with pleading eyes. While it was true that she was never interested in guns or violence in general, she knew how much Brian enjoyed shooting and since she liked him very much she just wanted to know what all the fuss was about. <br/>
"Dad was a professional, not some guy who wants to show off in front of his possible new girlfriend and if you think that he just put a gun in my hand and let me shoot the first time he took me with him to the range you're mistaken," the older sister explained and it was true. She remembered all too well how her father first showed her everything in general, then he made sure that Cassy knew all the parts of said gun and only when she was able to disassemble, name all the parts, clean and then reassemble the damn thing on her own he let her take the first shot. To him, the safety of his daughters always came first which is why he also made it very clear that this wasn't something to play around with. It was serious and if something was to go wrong, people could die. </p><p><br/>
"Maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea to teach your sister how to defend herself, seeing as how concerned you are about her safety," Joseph now said from where he was standing next to his brother John, who had also been watching the training and discussion from the start. Cassandra turned to the left and looked at Joseph. "She's never held a gun before in her life. If this goes wrong she could hurt someone, or worse, herself," the older sister said to the Father. </p><p><br/>
"I really don't think you need to be worried about that," John now interrupted the conversation. Cassandra inwardly rolled her eyes, she really didn't need advice from that guy. John of course noticed how annoyed she seemed to be with him just speaking up, but nevertheless he continued. "You see Brian here is one of my chosen, the youngest actually. If someone is capable of teaching your sister how to deal with a firearm, it's him," he explained with a somewhat proud smile on his face.<br/>
The young woman's eyebrows once again furrowed in confusion. "What on earth is a chosen?" she asked him. "The chosen are the best enforcers and protectors of the project, so something as simple as gun training is definitely in their skill set," John replied. Cassandra let out a frustrated sigh. At this point she had a headache and just wanted to go home and she really wasn't in the mood for another argument with her sister today. The black haired woman turned back to face her sister. "Four shots and then we go home," she turned back to Joseph "If any of your guys should lose an eye it's not my fault," the young woman told him matter of factly. "Of course," Joseph just replied with a small smile on his face.</p><p><br/>
When Cassandra turned back around she could see a big smile on Savannah's face. "Thanks Cassy," she exclaimed with an excited tone in her voice and while Brian was telling her what she needed to do, Cassy walked over to Joseph and stood next to him with her arms crossed over her chest. <br/>
It only took a few moments until Savannah was ready to take her first shot which she, of course, missed. It wasn't a surprise really, that she didn't hit the board on her first try, and even though Cassandra was still wondering why on earth all of this was necessary in the first place, she had to admit that it looked rather cute how Brian immediately tended to her and gave her a tip on how to do better the next time. Was she happy that her sister smiled even through her failure and the initial 'oh my god' moment when she found out guns do in fact have a recoil? Absolutely. Was she warming up to the guy whose fault it was that she needed to be here in the first place? Maybe, but of course she wouldn't tell anyone about that. Of course Cassy immediately noticed what kind of mistake her sister was making, but for her sake she just let Brian correct her one more time. </p><p><br/>
When Savannah fired her second shot she still didn't hit the black outline of a man that was printed on the board, but at least she hit the white part on the board, next to the printed guy's left shoulder, from their perspective. "Better, but still not what we're going for," she heard Brian say softly. This time though, Cassandra felt the need to intervene.<br/>
"Put your legs further apart and try to focus on the point you want the bullet to go rather than on the weight and recoil of the gun itself. You know how it works now and lucky for you, this thing isn't shooting back," she said with a slightly raised voice so that her little sister could understand her. Savannah nodded at her and tried to do what her big sister instructed. To her surprise and joy, the next bullet landed in the printed man's left upper arm. She quickly turned to Brian who congratulated her before looking back at her sister. "Did you see that?" she exclaimed with almost childish joy. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra had to chuckle slightly. "Well done. Now one more time, see if you can hit the torso," she replied with a more sympathetic voice. Savannah turned back around to her target and took a deep breath. She wanted to impress Brian of course, but what she wanted even more was to impress her sister and show her that she wasn't as helpless as Cassy always thought. </p><p><br/>
The next shot went directly into the target's left lung and Cassandra's eyebrows raised slightly. This time she was actually impressed. "Congratulations dear sister, you just punctured the poor man's lung," the black haired woman said with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Does that mean he's gonna die?" Savannah asked her with a slightly concerned expression on her face. "He could, but, not necessarily," her sister answered truthfully. Of course she knew how much her sister hated violence, but it was also important for her to know what she would have done if this was a real man instead of a practice target.</p><p><br/>
Her little sister nodded at her words and handed the gun back to Brian, honoring their arrangement. "I think this might be a good way end to our day here. Thank you Father, for your hospitality," Cassandra said to Joseph with a kind voice. The Father was about to answer when they heard Brian's voice. "Hey Cassandra, there's still three bullets left. Why don't you do us the honor?" he asked with a big, cheeky smile on his face.</p><p><br/>
"I didn't exactly come here for this. Besides, I remember we had an arrangement," she just replied with a dry voice and looked at her sister with her arms still crossed over her chest. "Oh come on, it's not gonna take long. Unless you're too scared that is," he was playfully mocking her now. Of course he knew that someone who had been to war wasn't afraid to make a few shots, but he started to notice that under the hard facade the older sister put up was actually a somehwhat nice person and he tried to work his playful charm on her to make her warm up to him. After all he wanted her to like him if he continued to meet up with Savannah. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra only sighed and uncrossed her arms. <em>He wants a show? He can have one</em>, she thought and made her way over to Brian, taking the gun from him. Instead of standing close to the table on which some other supplies laid like bullets and magazines, she took two large steps back to make the distance between her and the target even bigger. Then she took one good look at the target for measurement and simply raised her right hand to aim, not bothering to use her left hand for support on the gun.</p><p><br/>
<strong>Bang</strong> <strong>Bang</strong></p><p>The first two shots hit the target perfectly in the forehead. Now she decided to aim lower and pulled the trigger with a smirk on her lips. </p><p><br/>
<strong>Bang</strong>
</p><p><br/>
The last bullet hit the target straight in the balls, just like she intended. Cassandra lowered her hand, clicked the safety back on and glanced at Brian who stood there with slightly wide eyes. Savannah giggled slightly. "Cassy," she silently scolded her and at that the older sister had to giggle too. John was smirking slightly to himself, just like his older brother Jacob, who by the way had silently watched the whole ordeal from the start and Joseph, always the godly man (or so he said), just thought that this confirmed his initial thoughts of her being a great addition to the project. The other men who had been training next to her had stopped a moment to stare too, probably because they hadn't expected a small woman like her to just walk in and nailing the three shots with ease like she did.</p><p><br/>
Because of the pure moment shared between the sisters, Cassandra initially didn't notice the eldest Seed ordering the three other guys at the range to change the target boards to fresh ones without bullet holes in them and once she did, she thought they probably just needed clean targets to continue their training. She didn't pay them more attention when she walked back up to the table and placed the now empty gun on it. </p><p><br/>
"You know, that was really good," Brian told her, still a little bit impressed. The older sister just slightly smiled up at him and answered, "thanks Brian." It was probably the first time Cassandra genuinely smiled at the man and even if it was just a small smile, it was a triumph for him. <br/>
Their small moment didn't last long though when Jacob Seed's rough voice drew everyone's attention to him. "It seems to me like this little demonstration demanded way too little from what Miss Jones here can actually do," he casually stated while looking at Cassandra. It was an intense look that almost made her uncomfortable, but the young woman stood her ground and crossed her arms over her chest, wondering where this was going. "Why don't you pick up a heavier weapon and show everyone here what you're really made of," he added with a stern voice and crossed his own arms over his chest, mirroring her. His eyes were still boring into hers and he was wearing a tiny, almost missable smirk on his face.</p><p><br/>
Cassandra really wasn't in the mood for more games, not to mention that she was still wearing 4 inch heels and even if they were somewhat comfortable they weren't meant to be worn on a gun range. Still, this man was obviously trying to challenge her. She probably would be seen as a coward in his and probably other people's eyes if she didn't even try and if there was one thing Cassandra Rose Jones wasn't, it was a coward. </p><p><br/>
The young woman took at look at the table next to her and now noticed that there were 3 more guns and magazines lying onto it. Jacob must have placed them there when she was still busy getting complimented by Brian about her shooting. Then, she let out a small sigh, looked back at Jacob and without breaking eye contact stepped out of her heels while giving him a serious look that was supposed to say ' If you think you can embarass me in front of all these people you're mistaken'. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra uncrossed her arms and walked up to the table to pick up her first gun, it was a black AR-C assault rifle. Easy enough, she thought. She attached the magazine to the gun, racked the bolt and aimed at her target. Pretty much everyone was watching her now, Jacob, his brothers, her sister, Brian, and the other men who had trained with them at the range before.<br/>
Without much hesitation or difficulty she emptied the first half of the magazine into the target's torso, right on the marked x. Then, she adjusted her aim and emptied the second half of the magazine into the target's head. Once the magazine was empty she put the gun down and looked at the target with a smile. All of the bullets had hit the target and none of them went in the white field. "Good, next one," she heard Jacob Seed's voice from behind her. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra moved to the right, ready to face the next target. In front of her was a black MP5 sub-machine gun. Not her favorite gun in the world, she had to admit. She always preferred assault rifles over SMGs since she had more practice with them. Nevertheless, she picked up the gun, attached the magazine and got ready to shoot. This time, she decided to play it safe and only aimed for the torso of the target. Most of the bullets hit the marked x, some of them close by and somehow 3 sneaky little buggers made their way to the outer ends of the torso, still, no bullet landed on the white board. "And the last," Jacob Seed once again ordered her and she immediately placed the SMG down and moved further right to the last target.</p><p>This time, a brown 45/70 rifle was laid out in front of her and she slightly began to smile again. Cassandra quickly picked it up, attached the magazine and pretty much did the same she did with the first rifle. The first half of the magazine was emptied into the target's torso and the second half in the target's head. The bullets hit the target perfectly, just like the first time. "I'll be damned," Jacob Seed silently muttered to himself with his arms still crossed, but Cassandra somehow still heard it and smirked to herself before putting the gun down. </p><p><br/>
Jacob knew that she was probably a pretty decent shot from what he had seen earlier, but if he was being honest with himself he didn't expect her to be that good. He noticed the way her whole demeanor changed as soon as she held a weapon in her hands. She was confident before, but this was different. The way she carried herself when she handled those weapons, her stance, her aim, all of it screamed professionalism to him. There was something about her that said 'I'm ready to fight until I die'. She was strong and she knew it. He knew it too. He also didn't miss the small smiles she had once the guns were empty. She liked it. </p><p><br/>
A weird feeling formed in his belly, one he couldn't quite place, so he decided to push it aside and rather exchanged a glance with his brother Joseph and even though neither of them said a word he knew that his little brother was thinking the same thing that he did. The project needed her. </p><p><br/>
Putting the empty rifle back on the table Cassandra turned around and scanned the area for a moment and noticed that most of the people looked either shocked or impressed. Usually she didn't like being the center of attention but this time it somehow made her feel good. Finally, her eyes settled back on Jacob's. "Judging by the look on everyone's faces I assume I passed your little test. Now, as much fun as this was, I would very much like to go home," the young woman explained with a confident and a slight tinge of cockiness in her voice.</p><p><br/>
Jacob had to admit that her attitude was a nice breeze of fresh air. Most new recruits were intimidated or even scared of him, no matter if they were male of female, but here she was, a small, albeit trained, woman in her mid-twenties, not giving a shit about who she was giving that attitude to. The redhead guessed it was because she spent so much time around soldiers that she didn't care about another, tall guy trying to test or intimidate her. Jacob slightly smiled to himself. If she was really to join the project he would have a blast working with her, even though he guessed she could be a real pain in the ass, but that didn't matter to him, he knew how to put people like that in their place.</p><p><br/>
Not waiting for an answer from the tall man, Cassandra put her shoes back on and walked over to her sister. "Let's go Sav, we had an agreement," the young woman told her sister who smiled slightly at her. "Of course, just let me say goodbye," her sister replied and Cassy nodded, letting her say her goodbyes. </p><p>When Savannah was done and the sisters decided to take their leave, Joseph Seed once more demanded their attention. "There's gonna be another sermon next week. It would be wonderful to see you both there... and Cassandra, please consider the offer I made you earlier," he stated in his usual, calm voice. The younger sister now had a confused look on her face and looked at Cassandra. The older one didn't acknowledge her though and just smiled politely at the Father. She wasn't in the mood for another discussion and so she relied with a simple "of course". Then she grabbed her sister's hand, led her to the exit of the compound and back to their car. During the entire walk back Savannah wondered what kind of offer Joseph was talking about and she made a mental note to ask her sister about it once they were on the drive back home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. When The Past Comes Knocking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cassandra and Savannah are being confronted by someone from Savannah's past who doesn't have good intentions. Cassandra knows that she has to make a decision on how to solve the newly occured problem.</p><p>WARNING:<br/>This chapter includes gore at one point. It isn't long, but I'm putting this disclaimer here as a warning.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as the two women were out of sight, Jacob uncrossed his arms and walked over to his brothers. "Do you think it's wise to just let them go like that? Especially after what you saw that woman do," he asked his brother Joseph with his usual stern expression, obviously referring to Cassandra's excellent gun skills. "No need to worry brother, she will come back. They both will. Besides, I've already made her an offer to join us," Joseph replied, calm as ever. He really was convinced that Cassandra and Savannah would come back next week. </p><p><br/>"And what did she say to that?" the eldest Seed wanted to know. "Unfortunately she didn't have time to give me an answer due to the men here starting their training," his brother explained, gesturing over to the few men who had already resumed their training. Jacob sighed. Usually he tried not to question his little brother after everything he had done for him, still he thought that Joseph sometimes had too much faith in things just happening because he prayed for them. <br/>"So, you don't know for sure if they're coming back? I say I radio my hunters, have them stop the two before they leave the county just to make sure they're not vanishing for good," Jacob continued to press on. While he wasn't really interested in having Savannah join the team, he thought giving Joseph the idea of having two new recruits instead of one would make him change his mind. </p><p><br/>"I actually agree with Jacob on this one. The older one might be irritating but she knows what she's doing and the other one is already as good as convinced to join anyways," John now said, joining the conversation. Joseph sighed slightly. He could understand his brothers wishes to do it their way, but he was sure that those two women would eventually come to him on their own free will and someone who joins willingly is always easier to control as people who are brought in against their will.<br/>"That's enough. I want them to join our cause as much as you do, but there will be no violent interference this time. They both will come back, they will join us and together we will march through Eden's Gate. Have a little bit more faith brothers," the Father concluded. It was enough to shut up John, but Jacob wasn't as easily convinced as his baby brother. </p><p><br/>"What makes you think that Joseph?" he asked him, genuinely curious why his brother was so convinced that they would just agree to dedicate their lives to his project. Sure, he could see the younger one, Savannah, wanting to join them. She seemed to like it here and already had some friends within the project. Cassandra however seemed neither religious, nor willing to leave the job she was doing now. So why should she just wake up one morning and decide to join Joseph's cause? It didnt't make sense.</p><p><br/>The Father contemplated his brother's question for a moment. He knew that out of all his family Jacob was the least religious, so coming at him with spiritual arguments probably wasn't going to work. With him, he needed a logical approach. <br/>"The answer is love, brother. You saw how she obviously didn't want to come here a second time but in the end she did, for her sister. Or how she let Savannah use a firearm because she knew it would make her happy? Her sister's well being and happiness seem to be the most important things to her. If Savannah decides to join us, and she will, she will be the key to getting Cassandra as well. We just need to play it right. If this should fail, we can still save her against her own will, but I can assure you that she will be much more easy to work with if she joins willingly," Joseph explained to his older brother, hoping it would be enough. </p><p><br/>To his relief, it was. Jacob nodded at him, albeit begrudgingly, before walking back over to the gun range to check up on the men there. He realized that he couldn't quite concentrate though. Thoughts of what exactly he would have Cassandra Jones do under his command raced through his mind. He knew she was strong, but he still needed to figure out how strong exactly. One thing was for sure, if she was to pass all of his tests he could be looking at someone very important in his little brother's organization. </p><p> </p><p><br/>It was almost 4 pm when the two women were finally out of Hope County and on the main highway back to Missoula. The radio was playing an old country song that both Cassandra and Savannah remembered from their childhood. Savannah was singing along to the song while Cassandra concentrated on the road while listening to her little sister's lovely voice. </p><p><br/>When the song was over, Savannah turned the volume of the radio down and turned to look at her sister. "So, what do you think of them?" the brunette asked casually. "You mean the cult?" Cassandra responded in a normal voice, still concentrating on the road ahead. If she had been looking at her sister instead, she would've noticed her small eyeroll. "It's not a cult Cas," Savannah said dryly. </p><p><br/>Her older sister sighed at that. "First of all it's a social group with an unusual religious belief. Second, each one of them dedicated their whole life to said group to the point where they gave up their former jobs and third they have a fucking initiation ritual. This is a cult, what more proof do you need Savannah?" Cassandra explained with the fingers of her right hand counting the points she made. Her left hand remained on the steering wheel.The younger one groaned slightly. "Fine, you've won, it's a cult. That still doesn't answer my question though," she pressed on. "I don't trust them okay? Especially Joseph. He's just... too nice. It's hard to explain, but my belly is telling me that they are hiding something," the black haired woman replied with both her hands now back on the steering wheel. "Maybe they are just nice. Have you ever thought about that?" Savannah asked, clearly frustrated with her sister's answer, even if it wasn't entirely unexpected.</p><p>Cassandra now carefully turned her head to face her sister as much as she could while still being able to pay attention to the road ahead. "What they are, are manipulators Sav. The only reason Joseph is so nice is because he's trying to talk people into joining their cult. The world isn't nice. I know it because I've seen it. What they show you is a dream, nothing more," she explained with a calm yet firm voice. </p><p><br/>Savannah crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the road ahead. Damn her sister and her goddamn paranoia. Why was it so hard for her to accept that there are some people in this world who didn't want to hurt her, who didn't want to kill her? These days Cassandra seemed to expect enemies at every corner and to say it went on Savannah's nerves was an understatement. "I guess that means you don't want me to go there anymore then," the younger sister stated with an annoyed tone in her voice.<br/>"I don't know okay? Listen, I know you like this boy and made a few friends and I'm happy for you. I just... I just don't want you to throw your life away for someone you might not gonna stay with forever and I'm damn well sure that if someone wants to leave they are not just gonna let them. It's not how cults work Sav," Cassandra now voiced her concerns with a slightly softer voice. She just wanted her sister to understand her point of view.</p><p><br/>"Well maybe I wouldn't want to leave even if it doesn't work out with me and Brian. Maybe I just want to live my life in peace without having to drag myself to school every morning and learn something that stresses me the hell out. Maybe I want a simple life like that, have you ever thought about that Cassy? They're happy at Eden's Gate. They're a family," Savannah now countered. </p><p><br/>The older woman knew that Savannah wasn't quite happy with everything that was going on in her life, but she didn't know that her little sister hated college life that much. She always thought even though it wasn't the most fun thing in the world it would benefit her sister in the future. Cassandra sighed slightly. "Let's not argue again okay? We'll find a solution for this I promise," she answered now, defeated from a long day filled with too many questions. She just wanted to get home, eat some dinner and fall asleep to some tv show. </p><p><br/>Savannah let out a deep breath but didn't argue any further. She knew that pressing on with that matter would only make things worse. Still, there was one more thing she needed to ask her big sister. "That offer Joseph talked about before we left. What was it?" the young woman asked curiously. "He offered me and you to join him," her sister replied shortly. "And you told him no?" </p><p><br/>"Actually I didn't say anything. Brian's shots interrupted the conversation, but you already know what I think about all of this," Cassandra responded, her voice now calm again. "Yeah I know, but you know what? Maybe all of this wouldn't be too bad for you either. They would definitely make you one of their soldiers so you could keep your gun and wouldn't have to deal with an overly boring civilian life. Also we would be together again, like a real family. Not to mention that you would get more of that delicious meat," her little sister explained. She knew how much Cassy had enjoyed the meat, that's why she threw that line in there even if it probably wasn't a very convincing argument. Still, from her point of view it would be wonderful if both of them joined Eden's Gate.</p><p><br/>Cassandra didn't respond to her sister's explanation and if she was being honest she didn't want to think about the 'what ifs' right now. She knew that Savannah just wanted to make her cave and agree to join these people. Everything always seemed to be so easy in her little sister's mind, like nothing bad would happen just because someone was being a little bit nice in order to recruit them. It all seemed to be too perfect, and that was exactly the reason why it wasn't real. Still, she sometimes wished that everything would be as easy for her as it was for her sister, but it wasn't. She guessed someone needed to be sceptical in this family, even if it often led to arguments.<br/>The rest of the car ride was unspectacular. Cassandra continued to focus on the road and Savannah turned herself away from her sister, rested her head against the window and quietly listened to the radio with closed eyes.</p><p><br/>When Cassandra made a left hand turn into their street, it was already 6pm. She noticed a white van that was parked at the beginning of the street but didn't pay it further attention. Once she pulled into their driveway, she noticed that her neighbor's car was missing. The old lady was probably in the park or grocery shopping, Cassandra thought. <br/>After the black haired woman shut the engine of her car off, she turned to her sister who was now sleeping against the window. The sight reminded her of Savannah's 6th birthday party, where the whole family went to the zoo and the brunette fell asleep on the drive back home while Cassandra was still talking about the wolves and tigers to their parents. She smiled at the thought. They all were really happy once. Shaking those thoughts off before she got all emotional and had to shed some tears, Cassandra gently shook her sister awake with a smile. The younger one yawned slightly and asked if they were home already, a question that Cassy confirmed with a yes. </p><p><br/>After they had exited the car, they both made their way to the front door. Cassandra unlocked the door and went inside, only that she didn't get far when she was suddenly knocked to the ground and felt a sharp pain on the left side of her temple. Looking up she noticed a man dressed in black to her left, holding a rifle in his hand. He had knocked her against the head with it's handle and blood now started to pour from the wound. The young woman felt groggy for a few seconds but as soon as her vision started to clear she wasted no time to kick him in the balls from her position on the ground. "Savannah run!" she shouted without knowing the position of her little sister, hoping that she would be able to leave the house and maybe get help somewhere.</p><p><br/>The man she had just kicked groaned and dropped the rifle he was holding. Then, he fell to his knees and held his crotch with both of his hands while cursing at the pain. Looks like she had hit the bull's eye. Just when she was about to use her right foot again to kick him against the head she heard a sharp "Enough, or I'll shoot her!" from another male voice to her right. </p><p><br/>Cassandra froze immediately and looked in direction of the man's voice only to notice that he had Savannah trapped in his grip with her mouth covered and a gun to her head. "Let her go, now," the black haired woman snarled at the man. To say she was angry was an understatement. "I don't think that's gonna happen sweetheart, we still need something from her first. Now get up off the floor," the man, who was also dressed in black, commanded with another sharp tone in his voice. <br/>Not wanting to risk her sister's life, she did as she was told but just as she found her footing again she was slapped aross the face with the back of the first man's hand, knocking her to the ground again. This time, the hit split her lip. "Damn it Miles I just told her to get up," the second, and shorter, man said with an annoyed tone in his voice. "The bitch kicked me," Miles responded angrily. Looks like I hurt someone's pride, the young woman thought and chuckled inwardly. </p><p><br/>The shorter man sighed and told her to get up again. Once Cassandra was on her feet she couldn't control her confusion anymore. They obviously weren't here to rob the place and she was sure she had never seen those men before in her life. "What the fuck do you want from us?" the older sister asked with a venomous tone in her voice. <br/>"Feisty one aren't you?" the man chuckled, clearly amused but he quickly composed himself. "Come on, follow us into the kitchen. There's someone who wants to talk," he added and started to drag Savannah with him in direction of the kitchen. Cassandra and the other man followed without another word.</p><p><br/>Once they reached the kitchen, the women noticed a man sitting at the head of the dinner table and two more standing behind him on each side. The older sister wondered how all these people had gotten into their home without anyone noticing, but then remembered that their new house didn't have an alarm like their old one in Philadelphia did. Furthermore, the lock probably wasn't the hardest one to pick for someone who knew what he or she was doing. Even if she and her sister never had a problem with trespassers or burglars in the past, Cassandra silently cursed herself for not at least had an alarm installed. </p><p><br/>After one of the men who was leading them to the kitchen had turned on the light, the man at the head of the table started grinning widely. "Hello Savannah, it's been sometime. How are you doing? You're just as pretty as I remember," the man said with a big grin.<br/>To someone who wasn't paying attention it might have sounded like a warm welcome, but Cassandra immediately noticed that there was nothing nice about his voice. He was mocking Savannah. Upon further inspection the raven haired woman noticed that the man was white, had black hair, brown eyes and had no beard. He was wearing a dark grey shirt , an expensive looking leather jacket and black leather gloves. There was also a simple but thick silver necklace around his neck. The two men behind him looked like they were bodyguards at some club. Big, burly and mean. Cassandra noticed that they both were dressed in dark clothing and carried firearms, just like the two men who snatched them up upon entering the house. </p><p><br/>Her mind was trying to come up with an escape plan, but she knew that even if she somehow managed to snatch one of the men's rifles she and her sister were still outnumbered 5:2 and she couldn't risk Savannah getting hurt. Maybe it would be the best to just play and along and see what the hell they wanted, at least for now, still all of this was pretty confusing to her.<br/>What confused her even more though was that she never met this man in her life, but he obviously seemed to know her sister. Sure, she probably didnt't know everyone Savannah used to hang out with in the past, but this guy seemed so creepy that Cassy would've remembered him. She then decided to avert her eyes from the man and his two bodyguards and looked at her sister instead. The brunette looked like she was frozen in place and Cassandra could've sworn that she also looked paler than before.<br/>"And I suppose this is your big sister? Why don't you introduce us," the man then continued without a care in the world. <em>Does this guy break into houses regularly or why is he so calm?</em> Cassandra wondered. </p><p><br/>She took another glance to her right and noticed her sister still seemed to be in shock, at least until the guy who had pointed a gun to her head mere minutes ago nudged her in the back and gruffly said, "the boss asked you a question". Savannah swallowed thickly and quickly glanced between her sister and the man at the table. "Anthony this is Cassandra, Cassandra, Anthony. He's Grant's dealer..." the younger one said with a trembling voice. She was obviously terrified. <br/>Ah yes, Grant Stevens, Savannah's unreliable and cowardly little ex boyfriend. Cassandra remembered that one well enough, but the memories she had of him were less than good. She tried to give him a chance, she really did, but all he was, was a lazy coward and junkie without a real job or ambition. The young woman understood that times could be rough and that not every family had enough money to send their child to college, but this guy? He didn't even make an effort to change his life, not to mention that he often pulled Savannah into shit she shouldn't have been involved with in the first place. She never understood what her little sister liked about this guy. In Cassandra's opinion, he was a loser and a danger to her family.</p><p><br/>"See, that wasn't so hard was it? Now, why don't you two darlings take a seat. Savannah, over here," Anthony replied while patting on the chair to his left. The brunette hesitated for a moment but then did as he commanded. Cassandra took a seat next to her sister while simultaniously trying to refrain from gagging at his arrogant and mocking attitude. Who the fuck did he think he was, breaking in here and acting like he owned this place?<br/>"Now I understand that all of this must be pretty confusing for you, but I'm sure if your pretty sister thinks hard enough she can imagine why I'm here," the dark haired man explained with this unnerving and overdramatic friendly voice. He was playing a game with them and Cassandra was having none of it. This day has already been exhausting enough for her, the last thing she needed now was some stupid trespasser giving them riddles.</p><p><br/>"Why don't you just tell us what the fuck you want?" Cassandra said sternly and obviously annoyed. "Straight to the point are we? Alright, I can accept that. Now, your sister and her little boyfriend stole something from me. Grade A stuff that I intended to sell to a frequent buyer of mine if you have to know," Anthony explained, his voice sounded normal now as opposed to the fake-friendliness he threw at them earlier.</p><p><br/>So stolen drugs huh? Or better said, stolen drugs from 3 or 4 years ago, since Cassy knew that Savannah and Grant had broken up before they moved to Montana. The older sister sighed in annoyance. "So you're telling me that you and your douchebags traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to Montana because of some shit that happened years ago? Why don't you just go and ask Grant? If Savannah stole something from you, it was because that loser pulled her into it," Cassandra responded. She was now getting angry at this wannabe gangster since she was sure it wasn't her sisters fault the drugs were missing. </p><p><br/>"To answer your first question, yes, I traveled all the way here because it was a lot of money and to be honest it took some time to track you ladies down. Furthermore, we did ask dear Grant for the money first but unfortunately he missed the deadline and this is something I can't abide. If I tell someone to pay me, they pay me, otherwise..." the dark haired male now started to sound more like a gangster and less than a comic figure. The sisters both noticed that he was pulling something from the inner pocket of his leather jacket. It looked like a sheet of paper, or a photograph.<br/>Once he was done unfolding it he placed it on the table in front of the women. The younger one let out a screech of horror and covered her mouth. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes which started to spill down her cheeks only a few seconds after. Cassandra looked at the picture in shock too. She wasn't nearly as emotional as her sister, but even she had to admit that this was sick.</p><p><br/>On the picture was Grant, or better said his body, laying on a dirty floor. His shirt was removed and there were multiple cuts and bruises on his skin. The word 'thief' was cut deeply into his chest and his body had multiple stab wounds. What was even more shocking though, was his severed head, which was placed next to his body. His face was black and blue, probably from multiple beatings and one eye was swollen shut. The other one was wide open and a bullet wound was seen on his forehead. <br/>Cassandra wasn't a doctor but she noticed that the wounds, especially the bruises, were in different stages of healing, which means that Grant was probably tortured for days until someone finally put a bullet in his head. Of course she had seen multiple bodies throughout the years, she had even killed people herself, but she never did something like that. </p><p><br/>Looking over to her sister, Cassy noticed that she was still simultaniously crying and staring at the picture. Of course it would be a shock for Savannah since she loved this guy and only left him because her sister insisted after she almost lost her life because of him. With one swift move, the older one grabbed the picture and turned it around. <br/>"I would show you the others too, but I thought it might be a little bit suspicious if I was running around with a bunch of pictures of people with severed heads," Anthony chuckled at his own bad joke, he was clearly enjoiying all of this. In that moment, Cassandra just wanted to wipe this stupid smirk off his face. "You're a sick basterd," she growled at the man.</p><p><br/>"I just don't like it when people steal from me," he replied coldly, all hints of amusement now gone. "Now, what I want you to do, Miss Jones, is somehow get a hold of 50.000$ in cash and bring them to the Old Garden hotel here in Missoula. The room number is 56. I know life can be tough so I'm gonna be generous with you and give you two weeks from today," the man explained calmly. <br/>Cassandra knew she probably shouldn't push it and just say yes but she couldn't help herself. "And if we don't?" she asked with an edge in her voice. Anthony smiled menacingly at the question. "Well then I only have two options. I could turn your little sister into one of these marked corpses, or let her work the 50.000$ off. I'm sure a lot of people would want to have a go with a pretty girl like her," he replied smugly. Two of the assholes he brought with him laughed at that.</p><p><br/>The older sister really regretted asking now, since it took everything in her power not to snatch a gun and shoot this man in the face. Not did he only break into her house, but now he was also threatening her sister, and that was something no one should do in Cassandra's presence. She looked at Anthony with an angry expression but decided to hold her tongue. The man only smirked at her, knowing full well that he struck at nerve with his distateful response.<br/>"Now I would very much like to go back to my nice hotel room, but first I need to know that you two girls understood everything I just told you," Anthony said. He was mocking them now, rubbing dirt into the wound. "Yes Anthony, we understand," Savannah quickly responded, still terrified from everything she was witnessing at the moment. </p><p><br/>The dealer smirked at that. Of course the scared little girl would cave in first, but it wasn't her he wanted a confirmation from. "I need you to say it too, dear Cassandra," he told the woman with the same smirk still plastered on his face. For a moment Cassandra only continued to stare at him with an angry expression. Not being able to get up and shoot that man was torture for her. If it was only her, she probably would've attacked him already, but it wasn't only her, and so she decided to reply "I understand" through gritted teeth.</p><p><br/>Anthony smiled triumphantly at her. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, it goes without saying that if you think about alerting the police there will be consequences and I'm pretty sure both of you won't like them," he explained before finally standing up from his seat. "But you know what? I think you are smart girls and that's why I'm not too worried," Anthony continued while making his way around the table. The two women stayed seated. "Still, I'm going to leave you the photograph as a little motivation, just in case you should get any ideas," he added with his stupid and arrogrant smile while pointing at the photograph that was still turned upside down. The man and his associated then made their way out of the kitchen and to the front door before finally leaving the house.</p><p><br/>For a moment it was completely silent in the house, at least until Savannah once again started crying. Her older sister didn't notice it at first though, as she was cooped up in her own thoughts. Her sister's faint voice whimpering "I'm sorry" "I'm so sorry" over and over again was what brought Cassandra back to reality. <br/>The young woman let out a deep breath and pulled her sister into an embrace, as far as it was possible from their sitting positions. She wanted to be mad at her, and a part of her was, but instead of yelling at Savannah her expression softened and she began to rub her little sister's back while shushing her, telling her that it was okay, even if it wasn't. Savannah didn't need a lecture now, she needed comfort as she clearly regrettet what she did.</p><p><br/>When the brunette had calmed down a bit, Cassandra loosened the embrace to give her sister some space. There was another moment of silence before the younger one asked with a quiet voice, "Are you okay? Maybe we should bring you to a hospital?" The black haired woman smiled slightly at her sister "I'm okay, don't worry. I'm gonna take care of this soon," she answered, referring to her head injury.<br/>"How are we supposed to get that much money in two weeks?" Savannah then continued to ask with worry in her voice.<br/>Her older sister thought about the question for a moment. She was sure there was a way to get her hands on the money, but Cassandra didn't like the idea of having to pay the douchebag who just threatened their lives. "You really wanna pay this asshole?" the young woman asked in return although she already knew the answer.<br/>"We need to. You heard what he's gonna do if we don't... I... I know that you hate this but this guy isn't alone. He has a whole organization back in Philadelphia and if you refuse to pay he's not gonna stop until he gets what he wants," Savannah frantically explained. "I know that you probably want to knock this guy's teeth out but if you choose to fight him he's gonna win and I... I'm scared Cas," she added. New tears were now spilling from her eyes over her cheeks.</p><p><br/><em>Wonderful, so it's not just him and his bodyguards,</em> Cassandra thought. She knew that this was gonna cause a problem, but unlike her sister she didn't think that he was unbeatable. Still, she didn't want to scare Savannah even more and so she replied "I understand. I'll take care of it okay?"<br/>Her little sister looked at her with a hint of confusion written on her face. Usually Cassandra never accepted the easy way just like that. "You promise?" she asked. Her voice was still trembling slightly. "I promise. Your safety is the most important thing to me. You don't have to worry about anything as long as I'm still alive alright?" Cassandra explained with a calm voice. "Okay, thank you Cassy," the brunette responded. Even if both of them sometimes argued, Savannah was grateful to have a sister like Cassandra because she knew that no matter what she would never let anyone hurt her.</p><p><br/>The rest of the evening calm but still filled with suspence. After Cassandra took care of her wounds, both of them didn't have much for dinner and Savannah decided to go to bed earlier than usual. It was now her who just wanted the day to be over. When Cassandra was sure she was alone she walked over to the cupboard and made herself a drink to calm her nerves. Once she sat down again her mind began to wander. There needed to be a different possibility than paying this guy. Now that he knew where they lived she didn't even know that he and his friends would just leave them alone after giving him what he wants. It was nervewracking to say the least and certainly not how she imagined the evening to end. </p><p><br/>After two more glasses of whiskey the young woman decided to call it a day, headed back to her own room and set the alarm for 7am. She was even more exhausted now than before but nevertheless sleep didn't seem to come easily that night. It wasn't unusual for her when she was back home. There were many nights she had a hard time falling asleep, sometimes she had nightmares too, even if it didn't occur very often. Today though, it wasn't the deaths of her loved ones that kept her awake, but rather how to fix the problem at hand. Two hours later however she found herself drifting off to sleep but not before promising herself that she would find a solution to all this mess tomorrow.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cassandra needs to make a decision in the aftermath of last chapter's break in.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassandra groaned as soon as she heard her alarm ring. When she was on duty she usually didn't have a problem with getting up early, but since this was supposed to be her vacation she was a bit frustrated to say the least. Still, there were things to do and so she berudgingly decided to leave the warmth of her bed and get ready for the day. <em>Damn these drug dealers,</em> she thought as she did so.</p><p><br/>
After a quick shower, she was in the mood to dress a little bit more fancy today and ended up wearing tight fitted, black flared pants and a black silk blouse with a deep v-neck. She tried her best to cover up the cuts and bruise she sustained from the trespassers yesterday with some make-up. Once she was done also applying black eyeliner, dark eyeshadow and rose colored lipstick, she combed her hair back, wrapped some of it in a scrunchy and left the rest open. Then she went back to her room and put on her favorite jewelry set consisting of a silver necklace with a green gemstone and matching earrings, bracelet and a ring and matched it with the silver watch that was encrusted with small diamonds. She remembered receiving the watch from Andrew as a birthday gift many years ago and smiled fondly at the memory.</p><p><br/>
Looking in the big mirror that stood in her room she noticed that she looked even more fancy than she intended, like she wanted to go on a date or something, another part of her though liked dressing up once in a while and so she just smiled and went downstairs where she could hear her sister rummaging in the kitchen.<br/>
"Don't you have lectures today?" she asked her sister with an amused expression and her arms crossed over her chest. At the question Savannah whipped around and looked like a deer in headlights for a moment. She obviously didn't hear her big sister due to all the noise she was making. "First lecture got cancelled, also there is no food in this house again," Savannah explained with an annoyed expression. Why was there never food in this house? "Also you look great," she continued once she really took in her sisters appearance. "Are you going to the bank today and ask for a credit?" Savannah continued, obviously curious. Of course it would be once of the first things she thought about after waking up.</p><p><br/>
Cassandra sighed slightly. "Something like that... Listen, I know there's some cereal in that cupboard up there, why don't we have some of that and I go grocery shopping after, okay?" she suggested, quickly trying to change the subject and since it was still early in the morning her sister didn't pay further mind to her Cassy's vague response and instead prepared some breakfast for both of them. </p><p><br/>
After breakfast and a promise from Savannah to not tell anyone at college about what happened to them last night, the younger sister bid her farewell, got in her car and drove to college. Once she was gone Cassandra let out a deep breath and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Then, she put on some black heels and her black leather jacket and headed out of the door to get some groceries. </p><p><br/>
The whole time she was in the store though she couldn't really focus on the things around her and even bumped into someone. On the drive back home she decided to let her mind wander to all the possibilities she had. The first thing that came to mind was just paying him. Sure the bank would probably give her the money, but she still loathed this idea more than anything.</p><p><br/>
Moving on to the second possibility she thought that maybe she could go to the police and ask them to be put in a witness protection programm if Savannah tells them everything she knew about those assholes. The young woman liked this possibility better than the first one, but there was still something that irked her about it. Would they make the deal? Would they then also keep the deal and not try to arrest Savannah for stealing the damn drugs in the first place? Would they be able to properly protect them? What about corruption? </p><p><br/>
Cassandra sighed in frustration. This was one of the moments where she hated her trust issues. The third and final possibility she could come up with at the moment was driving them back to their aunt and uncle in Philadelphia. They had taken care of them and especially Savannah after their parents deaths and Cassy was sure they would do it again in a situation like that. She knew their house also had an alarm system that would immediately alert the police once it went off and her uncle knew how to shoot a gun like she did if necessary. Then again, wouldn't she make her aunt and uncle targets of those maniacs too? Losing another family member was the last thing Cassandra wanted, even if they weren't that close. The young woman realized that all of this was even more frustrating than she inially thought.</p><p><br/>
Pulling into the driveway of her car she exited it and started to bring the groceries inside. When she put the food in the places they belonged she let her mind wander again and hoped that Savannah would keep her word to not tell anyone about this. Cassandra didn't need anyone else alerting the police for them or screwing the whole thing up somehow, that's why she didn't want her sister to speak of the recent break in to anyone, not even Tamara. </p><p><br/>
Suddenly another thought entered her mind and the young woman paused immediately with a pack of raw eggs still in her hands. <em>What if...?</em> "No, absolutely not, Cassy," she spoke out loudly even if no one else was there, but the idea she just had was so terrible that she needed to deny it harder than all of the others she had before, or wasn't it? After the initial shock was over she put the eggs in the fridge and leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed over her chest.</p><p> <br/>
Did she really just think about accepting Joseph Seed's offer to join them? Maybe. Was it worth wasting a serious thought over? No. Or maybe yes? Cassandra let out a sigh. She had to admit that Joseph seemed to have enough people and guns necessary if it were to come to a fight. They had a compound with barbed wire fences and from what she had witnessed those people there were truly loyal to the Father. They probably wouldn't be swayed that easily by money or other luxuries offered to them. There was another thing though that the black haired woman had noticed. </p><p><br/>
The way Joseph Seed took his time to speak to and embrace his followers after the last sermon indicated that he seemed to look at them like all of them were one big family, which wasn't unusual for a cult leader, but if one would combine the firepower at hand, the Father's will to protect his 'children' and her weird feeling that something more might be going on in the project at Eden's Gate she might have an unstoppable force at hand which she could use to protect her little sister's life with. The only disadvantage she saw in all of this was that if they both agreed to join them, it would be a one way ticket. Even if Anthony and his merry band of assholes would dare to fight them for his pride and greed, and the project would win, there would be no turning back from this. After everything had cooled down Savannah might be able to finish her education, something she probably wouldn't even want to do, Cassandra guessed, but Cassandra wouldn't be able to reenlist in the army. If she decided to take this step with her sister, her dream of staying in the army until she died was over. Of course there was also the possibility of just her sister joining, so she would be safe, but leaving Savannah completely alone in a situation like this didn't sit right with the older sister.</p><p><br/>
For the continuation of the day the young woman was thinking about further possibilities to get rid of Anthony and his firends. Unfortunately though, after hours of thinking accepting Joseph's offer seemed to be the most attractive one of all the options. Cassandra thought back at what she had told her sister the day before, about how Savannah's safety was the most important thing to her. Cassy knew that she didn't exaggerate when she said that. After everything she had lost, parents, fiance and friends, her little sister was the only close relative she had left. With a deep sigh and an encouraging nod to herself she stood up from the couch she was currently sitting on and turned off the TV. </p><p><br/>
<em>So the weird cult it is, huh Cas?</em> the young woman thought to herself and grabbed the leather jacket she had discarded on the couch earlier and with that the decision was made. She would drive to Joseph's compound and tell him her answer. Cassandra was sure that he would be delighted about the news just like her little sister. Savannah might be scared of Anthony, but the older one was sure that if she would give her the opportunity to join Eden's Gate and leave college behind she wouldn't argue too much. This might actually work. With one last sigh Cassandra left the living room, put her black heels back on and left the house.</p><p> </p><p>It was exactly 6.38 pm when she parked her black Kimberlite in front of Joseph's compound. The whole drive here she tried to mask her growing nervousness by turning the volume of the car radio louder and concentrated on the beat and lyrics. It didn't help much but it was better than nothing. Of course Cassandra would never openly admit or show that she was nervous and under different circumstances she wouldn't be, but the young woman was about to sign over her and her little sister's life to a man she barely knew. All of this was one big 50/50 chance of either being the right or wrong decision and Cassandra had to admit that she didn't really like these odds.<br/>
Upon exiting the car and walking to the guarded front gate she noticed the same young man from the first time, along with another, standing at the gate with assault rifles in their hands. She had noticed the last few times that pretty much everyone in the cult wore at least one piece of clothing with their symbol on it and wondered if she and Savannah would have to dress like that too once they were full members of the project. Shaking these thoughts off she approached the men at the gate and started to talk to the younger one. </p><p><br/>
"I would like to speak to the Father, it's important," Cassandra explained with a calm voice. All evidence of her nervousness was now masked behind her usual expression. "The Father isn't here right now. Do you have an appointment?" the young man wanted to know. The young woman had to hold back a snort because that guy made it sound like she wanted to visit the doctor and not a cult leader. <br/>
"No, but he made me and my sister an offer yesterday, and I'm here to give him my answer. I'm sure he would be interested in hearing that," she replied with a friendly but stern tone. The guard's eyebrow quirked up in suspicion for a moment but then he unclasped his radio from his pants. "What's your name?" he wanted to know. "Cassandra Rose Jones." Cassandra saw the man pushing a button and starting to speak. "Father, are you there?"</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Monday, April 24th, 6.35 at John Seed's ranch</strong>
</p><p><br/>
Joseph Seed and his siblings were all gathered around the big table next to the fireplace at John's ranch, eating the delicious dinner some of John's cooks had prepared for them. It was one of those dinners Joseph insisted his whole family to attend to and even though they all had seen each other just yesterday, the Father thought after everything his family had been through spending some more time together wouldn't hurt. Quite the opposite really. Besides, apart from a few unfriendly encounters with townspeople who had yet to see the light it had been rather quiet lately so there was no reason to stay on high alert. The conversation was running smoothly and at the moment Faith was talking about her Bliss production when suddenly the Father's radio started to make a sound. "Father, are you there?"</p><p><br/>
Faith stopped talking immediately and John and Jacob looked at their brother, wondering who would interrupt them at dinner. Joseph himself recognized the voice as Jeremy who was one of the newer and younger guards at his compound. So far Jeremy had done a good job and the Father knew that he would never interrupt a private family dinner if it wasn't important and so he unstrapped his radio and pressed the speaking button. "Speak, my child."</p><p><br/>
"Here's a woman named Cassandra Rose Jones who wants to talk to you. She says it's important, something about an offer you made her," Jeremy replied. A big smile started to form on Joseph's face and he glanced over at Jacob whose eyebrows were slightly raised in surprise. It was obvious that the oldest Seed hadn't expected that. The Father himself wasn't sure what had prompted the young woman to turn up so quickly after their last conversation, but he was sure that if she wanted to decline his offer she wouldn't have bothered to drive almost three hours to Hope County just to tell him that. </p><p><br/>
"Yes Jeremy, please drive her over to John's ranch immediately. I would like to speak to her. Tell one of the other guards at the church to take your place at the gate," he instructed in his usual, calm voice. "Yes Father," was the response he got from the young man and with that he strapped the radio back on his hip and leaned back in his seat with a smile. "My brothers, my sister, haven't I told you she would come back?" he then said.</p><p><br/>
"We don't know what she wants yet," Jacob, always the skeptic, remarked. "We will find out soon now won't we? But I'm confident that the result of this conversation will be to all our satisfaction," Joseph concluded and picked up his fork again to finish his meal before their guest would arrive. Usually he wouldn't allow just anyone to walk in and interrupt their dinner, but he had a feeling that the upcoming conversation with Cassandra would be quite interesting. The woman seemed to be a difficult person to convince of something she actually didn't want to do. He figured he might eventually have to have her captured or blissed, so for her to come here so quickly was almost shocking to him. Something must have happened that changed her mind and he was more than ready to find out what it was.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Back at the compound</strong>
</p><p><br/>
Of course Cassandra heard everything that the Father and the young man, whose name she now knew was Jeremy, had talked about over the radio and as soon as the young guard had found a replacement for his post the two of them made their way to one of the white trucks with the black Eden's Gate symbol on it. Once they were buckled in, Jeremy started the engine and drove off in direction of what she heard would be John's ranch. </p><p><br/>
She wondered what the Father was doing at his little brother's house but then remembered that one didn't need a particular reason to visit one's own relative. <em>No need to be suspicious there, Cas,</em> she reminded herself. Still, having to see John Seed again today wasn't exactly on Cassandra's bucket list and she hoped for the love of god that he would either leave the room during their conversation or just keep his mounth shut. Both of which she figured would be unlikely scenarios. One could hope though.<br/>
The drive to the ranch was a quiet one. The only thing that was to hear was the radio silently playing one of those songs she hasn't heard anywhere but in Hope County.</p><p><em>Would the cult be able to take over the radio station and play their own propaganda music?</em> The young woman inwardly chuckled at that thought and shook her head slightly. It was an amusing thought. She imagined John, or even Jacob Seed sitting together at a table and writing songs about how their project was the coolest thing there is. Still, if she listened more closely to the lyrics of the song she was hearing right now, it really seemed to be about Joseph and how he was these people's big savior. Maybe it was a coincidence? Joseph's name was never explicitly stated after all. But then again, she remembered the song about a man named John playing the first time she came to Hope County. All of this seemed to be a bit weird to her and she wondered just how big this whole organization was and how much power they held in this county.</p><p><br/>
Nevertheless she didn't feel the need to tell Jeremy to stop the car and drive her back to her car. She had come this far already and some weird sounding music wouldn't make her change her mind now. Not to mention that the young woman had her doubts about him actually driving her back even if she asked nicely and so she just leaned further back in her seat and stared out of the side window at the landscape. Cassandra had to admit that it was beautiful here and, save for the many white trucks that passed them on the road and occasional other car, it was peaceful too. <em>It doesn't seem like the worst place to grow old in,</em> she thought. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra didn't pay attention to how much time had passed by on their way to John's ranch. What she did notice though was the three big letters that spelled out 'YES' on the narrow road that would eventually lead to the man's property. She wondered what that was all about because it seemed like a weird thing to decorate your land with. When the truck got closer to what seemed to be the ranch the young woman couldn't say she was surprised at the size of it all. There wasn't just one but two buildings and everything looked pretty big and luxurious from what she could tell from her view inside the car.</p><p><br/>
The next thing Cassandra noticed was that the whole property was littered with armed guards, just like at Joseph's compound. How many people do they have? the black haired woman wondered. Before her driver was able to find a parking spot directly on the property however they were stopped by one of the guards who wanted to know what business he had here and why he had a 'sinner' with him. At that moment the young woman refrained from raising her eyebrows and making an amused face upon her new title. Once Jeremy had cleared up the issue they were free to pass and find a spot to park the truck.</p><p><br/>
After Cassandra had exited the car she took a closer look at her surroundings and suddenly all of the doubts she had earlier vanished when she concluded that those people truly would be capable of protecting Savannah. A small smile crossed her lips but her train of thought was interrupted when she heard Jeremy's clear his throat and beckoned her to follow him which she eventually did. </p><p><br/>
When they reached what seemed to be the front door her driver knocked on the door and only a few seconds later both of them were greeted with the sympathetic smile of Faith Seed. "Hello Cassandra, it's so nice to see you again. You look beautiful," she beamed at the black haired woman and Cassandra gave her a small smile in return. "Likewise," she just replied curtly. The youngest Seed's eyes shifted up to Jeremy who was standing to Cassandra's left. </p><p><br/>
"Thank you Jeremy, for bringing her here safely. You now may wait by the truck until the Father is done talking to her," Faith politely explained and as soon as she had finished her sentence the man nodded in acknowledgement and left. He really was an obedient one. "Please, come inside, the Father is already awaiting your presence," the blonde then continued and took Cassandra's left hand to lead her inside. </p><p><br/>
Usually she didn't like strange people just touching her without a good reason, but this time she decided it would be better to just play along, besides Faith had been nothing but nice and respectful so far, so Cassandra was okay with this for the time being. Instead of further focusing on her hand in Faith's she decided to take a good look around. The inside of John's ranch seemed just to be like the outside: big and luxurious. The young woman saw a big, lit fireplace with a black leather sofa, three, black leather armchairs and a table that was placed in front of the sofa. On the table laid a white book with the project's symbol on it and Cassandra wondered what that was about.</p><p><br/>
There was a also picture of Joseph hanging over the fireplace and a big scale standing on the stone rim above the looming fire alongside the big, black banners that were hanging from the ceiling. Looking to her right she saw a big showcase filled with various items and what looked like white cloths with the Eden's Gate symbol on them. Behind the fireplace on the left she noticed a well filled bookshelf. Another thing that wasn't missable were the many stuffed animals that were standing everywhere. <br/>
Passing the fireplace she saw a big table at which Joseph was already sitting with a cup filled with what seemed to be hot tea in front of him. He was wearing a white shirt, a black vest and his usual, yellow aviators. Next to him she noticed John taking a sip of his own tea, dressed in yet another blue silk shirt and his own vest. Further away from his family Cassandra saw Jacob Seed perched on yet another black leather sofa in the left corner, fumbling with his big, red hunting knife. </p><p><br/>
His eyes fell onto hers once she was close enough. The black haired woman noticed a small frown on the man's face which was quickly covered up by his usual grim expression. Cassandra wondered what he was frowning about when she remembered the wounds on her forehead and lip which she so desperately tried to cover up this morning, but after a day of running errands and being stressed about her current life situation she figured that at least some of the make-up must have worn off by now and therefore revealed the nasty wounds a bit more than before.</p><p><br/>
Turning her head back to the front she noticed that both Joseph's and John's attention was on her now. Joseph looked at her with a small smile while John was eyeing her up and down with a small smirk like he already did once or twice before. Admittedly, she did look nice today, despite the stress. <br/>
Even Jacob, who generally saw everyone and everything as nothing but a tool and didn't care about someone else's looks, had to admit that she was an attractive tool. The way the v-neck of her blouse accentuated her breasts without showing too much, or the way those dark pants hugged her figure in just the right places made him run his eyes over her longer than they usually would when he studied someone. Irriated by his own thoughts the oldest Seed decided to avert his eyes from her for a moment and put his focus back on the knife in his hands. </p><p><br/>
Once Faith and Cassandra were close enough to the table the blonde let go of the older woman's hand, smiled brightly at Joseph and sat back down on her seat. "Please, have a seat, child," the Father addressed Cassandra with a warm smile and beckoned with his left hand to the spot on his right, in between him and Faith and opposite if John. The young woman let out a small sigh and removed her leather jacket since it was pretty warm because of the fire looming in the big fireplace. She placed her leather jacket around the backrest, sat down on the chair and rested her hands on the table in front of her.</p><p><br/>
Of course Joseph had also noticed the cuts and bruises on her face and the small sigh she let out before sitting down which indicated that she was probably at least a little bit nervous. He wondered what had happened but decided to not outright ask her about it, at least for now. "Can I offer you some hot tea to help you ease your nerves?" he asked instead. </p><p><br/>
Cassandra looked at the tea service in front of them and then back up at him. She knew by now that he must have noticed her nervousness and inwardly cursed herself for letting him see it in the first place. "I'm fine, thank you," she politely declined. "Your sister isn't joining us this evening?" Joseph then proceded to ask, even though it was obvious that the older sister was alone. "No, not this time. I was hoping to discuss this with you in private," the young woman explained with a neutral expression. <br/>
The Father smiled softly at her. "I have no secrets from my family and if you're willing to take up on my offer to join us they will become your family too." In that moment Cassandra wondered how in the hell he would know that this was why she was here? Then again, he always looked at her like he was trying to read her and he was a smart man from what she had gathered. "There is nothing to be ashamed or afraid of," he then calmly added.</p><p><br/>
"I'm not afraid," the woman immediately replied. It came out more harshly than she had intended and so she took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm just not used to ask for people's help. But in this case... Savannah is in trouble and I didn't know where else to go," Cassandra stated truthfully. <br/>
Joseph then extended his left hand and placed it on top of Cassandra's right one that was still resting on the table. She tensed at that gesture, something the Father noticed but didn't comment on. Cassandra had the urge to pull her hand back but refrained from it because she didn't want to seem rude when he was obviously trying to comfort her. <em>What is it with those people and the touching?</em> she silently asked herself and continued to look into the Father's deep, blue eyes. In that moment she wondered if he was genuine or if this was just another one of his maniplutation tactics. </p><p><br/>
"Asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of, child. I'm glad you're willing to lay down your pride and come to me with your worries. Tell me, what happened to your sister?" he then inquired with genuine interest. He guessed that whatever happened to Savannah must have also caused the wounds on Cassandra's face. The young woman took his question as the perfect opportunity to pull away her hand and decided to rest both of them in her lap under the table. </p><p><br/>
"Yesterday, when we came home from your barbeque, we were ambushed by 5 men who broke into our house. I didn't know them, but Savannah recognized one of them as her ex boyfriend's drug dealer," she told the Father. "What did they want from you? I remember hearing a rumor about your sister being an addict a few years back."</p><p><br/>
"It's not a rumor. Savannah was an addict, but she's been clean for over two years now. The drugs were her way of dealing with our parent's deaths, especially our mother. We tried to take her to therapy but that obviously didn't work. When she was 16 she met this guy Grant. I never liked him. He was an unrelieable and spineless coward. Apparently he ran out of money this one time and talked Savannah into stealing drugs from the guy who broke into our house yesterday. I remember when she was 18 she ODed on cocaine and almost died from it. I wasn't even in the country when that happened. Our aunt and uncle told me about this when I got home, so I sold the house, grabbed my sister and moved to Montana. I used our Father's insurance money to get her into the best rehab facility in the state and I thought that was that. She never told me that she stole the drugs," Cassandra explained calmy and she had to admit that even if she didn't trust Joseph yet it felt good to talk to someone about all of this. </p><p><br/>
Their calm and collected conversation however was interruped by Joseph's younger brother John. "How much money are we talking about?" he wanted to know. "50k," the young woman answered. At that John let out a low whistle. "Must've been some grade A stuff," he remarked, more to himself. The young woman wondered how he would know that but dismissed the thought. "That's what Anthony said too. I wouldn't know and I honestly don't care because even if I had the money I wouldn't pay this asshole after threatening my sister's life," Cassanda remarked with venom in her voice. Just thinking back at Anthony's threats made her blood boil.</p><p><br/>
John studied her for a moment. Once again he could see her wrath clearly written on her face, an expression that was all too familar to him, not just from all the confessions he had listened to but also from himself. He could understand the woman's need to protect her family. Hell, he knew he would do anything to protect his own family and this project. There was another thought that crossed his mind though. "You said that this Grant pulled your sister into all of this. Why don't they simply ask him instead of bothering you?"</p><p><br/>
Cassandra scoffed slightly. "Oh they did ask him, but unfortunately he couldn't pay so..." she started to answer and now opened the side pocket of her leather jacket to pull out the photo of the deceased Grant that she had taken with her before she had left the house earlier. "that's what happened to him," the young woman concluded and placed the opened picture in front of John. He studied the picture for a moment and Cassandra noticed that he didn't look shocked at all. <br/>
There wasn't much reaction from him in general, as if he'd see things like this regularly. Joseph on the other hand frowned slightly, but Cassy noticed that he didn't seem to be too affected by it either. Looking at Faith she noticed that her eyes widened slightly when she saw the picture. It was the most of a reaction she had seen from any of them so far.</p><p><br/>
Meanwhile Jacob had been silently listening to their conversation the whole time, even if it didn't seem like it. When Cassandra had pulled out the photo and everyone except him were able to see whatever was on the picture he decided to holster his knife and walked over to the table to take a closer look at what this was about. <br/>
He now stood in between John and Joseph and the young woman closely studied his face. There wasn't much reaction from him when he saw the picture. None at all really, but he was also the only family member she didn't expect to get much of a reaction from anyway. Yesterday she had already recognized the insignia that was sown onto his jacket to be the one of the 82nd airborne division. The young woman had heard stories about this division and knew that those guys usually used to be in the midst of it all which means that he had most likely seen worse things than a decapitated person with some bruises during his time of service. The burn scars on his forearms further hinted at that. </p><p><br/>
The thing that Cassandra surprised a little bit though was the lack of reaction she had noticed from the other Seeds. Then again, she already knew that there was going on more in Hope County than what they showed everyone, especially when there were new people around. She wondered just how sinister the things would be though. Deciding that everyone had now looked long enough at the dead man in the picture, Cassandra turned her attention from Jacob back to Joseph.</p><p><br/>
"This Anthony has given us a deadline that expires in 2 weeks. If it was only him and his 4 pricks I would find a way to deal with it, but Savannah said that he has more people back in Philadelphia and judging from his arrogant attitude he didn't seem like he would just drop it if we don't pay," the young woman explained. Joseph studied her for a moment. She sure did swear a lot he noticed. He wondered why they wouldn't go to the police since this would seem to be the most likely decision, but he figured it would be best not to ask her about that as it would probably only ruin his plans of recruiting her.</p><p><br/>
"I understand. So what you're asking me is to shelter you both within my flock and protect you from being hunted by this man and his associates?" he then asked. The Father was sure that this was what she wanted since she got here, but nevertheless he needed verbal confirmation. Cassandra sighed slightly. "If it was just me I wouldn't care. I don't need anyone to protect me, least of all a bunch of people whom I don't even know or trust properly, but my sister... You've seen her, she's not a fighter and I simply don't like leaving her alone with this threat still around," she answered truthfully. </p><p><br/>
Joseph smiled slightly, of course he knew she didn't trust any of them, but she was clearly smart enough to know that some battles are better fought together than alone. "I appreciate your honesty, Cassandra, and I would gladly accept you both into my flock after you've passed your atonement," the Father concluded.<br/>
Ah yes, the atonement also known as confessing everything you did wrong in your life and then getting words carved into your body. The young woman hated this idea. She herself was used to the pain coming from the multiple stab and gunshot wounds she had sustained during her deployments, but her sister... she obviously didn't want anyone to mutilate or hurt her. It was something she hasn't exactly thought about earlier but now that Joseph mentioned it she remembered the project's crude initiation ritual. Still, a few carved in words would be better than being dead, or wouldn't it? </p><p><br/>
"Fine," Cassandra finally asnwered and noticed how Joseph's smile seemed to grow even wider. He was obviously happy about all of this. "Wonderful. The next baptisms, which you will need in order to reach the atonement, are sheduled on Saturday, but seeing as how urgent the situation you're currently in seems to be I propose that you and your sister pack your things and come back here tomorrow. You will be able to stay with one of my flock's families until Saturday... Tamara's parents maybe? They should have a spare room now that their daugther is at college," Joseph suggested and while it was true that it would be better to move to Hope County immediately to avoid further threats or break ins, his actual intentions was keeping the two girls close to him as soon as possible, in case Cassandra would change her mind.</p><p><br/>
The young woman thought a moment over the Father's proposal but in the end nodded in agreement. It probably would be best to get Savannah out of this house as soon as possible. She was scared enough already and didn't need to feel uncomfortable in her own home. Still there was another question she needed to ask. "And what happens after Saturday? I will also need to sell our house in order to buy a new one in Hope County."</p><p>"Of course you can sell your house but I wouldn't worry about having to buy a new one here immediately. After your atonement you, your sister and the other new members will go with one of my heralds to start your new job in the project," the Father explained while gesturing to his siblings. <br/>
Cassandra's eyes followed his hand for a moment but then her eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion. She had already guessed that they would get some kind of job and had to contribute to the project, but she wasn't aware that they were so well organized and once again she questioned the amount of power this family seemed to have in the county. </p><p><br/>
"So you're seperating us? Because there is no way that Sav and I are gonna do the same job," the black haired woman stated matter of factly. "For now yes, but you will be able to visit each other once in a while and I promise you that your sister will be safe no matter which region she will be send to," Joseph told her with an encouraging tone in his voice.<br/>
Wait a minute, which region? So not only did the Seed siblings each had control over certain people but each of them also had their own territories. <em>I'll be damned,</em> Cassandra thought to herself when she realized that all of this was in fact bigger than she anticipated. No matter though, it was a good thing when it came to keeping Savannah safe.</p><p><br/>
"Are there any more rules I should be aware of?" she then asked just to make sure. "The use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes are strictly forbidden just like premarital fornication," he responded in a serious tone. The raven haired woman tried to hold back a chuckle. Well damn, looks like she not only had to say goodbye to her favorite job but also her occasional evening whiskey. Oh that and the fact that she would never have sex again because in her mind there was a 0% chance of wanting to get married to someone else than the one that was already six feed underground. Andrew was the only serious partner she ever wanted, the only one who knew everything about her and still loved and wanted her. She guessed that no one else would ever come close to him again.</p><p><br/>
For a short moment she wondered if the same rules applied to Joseph and his siblings as well, because by the way John had mentally undressed her with his eyes it didn't seem like he was someone who wasn't active in the bedroom. Then again, maybe he was staring so much because he wasn't getting any. The young woman had to hold back her laugh at this thought and decided to stop thinking about silly things like that.</p><p><br/>
All of this was pretty frustrating but nevertheless Cassandra smiled slightly, even though it didn't reach her eyes. "Looks like you've got yourself a deal," she just said. "I'm very glad to hear that, Cassandra," the Father replied with a bright smile. "I should go home now and inform my sister. I have a feeling that she will be very happy about this," Cassy responded, got up from her seat and put her leather jacket back on. </p><p><br/>
Joseph rose to his feet as well and as soon as the young woman was dressed properly he took a step towars her, put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to press his forehead against hers. The woman tensed immediately and wondered what the hell was going on and why she was being touched again, but remained calm and played along. This seemed to be important to him. </p><p><br/>
After he leaned back he gave her another smile with his hands still on her shoulders. "Thank you for coming here today, child. You've made the right decision. You can tell brother Jeremy to drive back to your car so that you can prepare everything for tomorrow," the Father stated while staring deeply in her eyes. Cassandra only nodded at that while staring right back even though his gaze was so intense that it almost made her uncomfortable.</p><p><br/>
As soon as he let go of her she started to make her way out of the building but stopped for a moment and turned around again. "If Anthony is smart he will probably not follow us here, but what if he isn't?"<br/>
"You can be assured that I will do everything I can to ensure my flock's safety and do what needs to be done, not matter what it is," the Father replied and right in that moment Cassandra could've sworn that she saw a different look in his eyes, one that she hasn't seen before and was far more sinister than his usual friendly attitude. She also noticed the change of his voice when he said that and the young woman concluded that it was an underlying threat.</p><p><br/>
"Good," she answered with her own serious and cold expression. She then glanced over him and his siblings one more time before leaving the house and returning to Jeremy and his truck. Once she reached him she told the man what the Father had ordered. With a nod he waited until the young woman got into the truck and started to drive off in direction of the compound. The whole drive to the compound and then back home Cassandra thought about everything that has happened today. She has just sold her and her sister's life to a man she barely knew. The woman knew she was playing with fire and wondered if she had made the right decision, but in the end told herself that it needed to be done. Turning on the car radio she tried to enjoy the rest of her drive without overthinking too much.</p><p><br/>
Back at the ranch Joseph was more than happy about Cassandra's decision and reminded himself to thank god in his next prayer for leading her to him. She and her sister would be a wonderful addition to the project and even though he knew she only agreed to join for protection he was positive that one day she would see the light and become a true believer in their cause.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright people let's have ourselves a baptism next time shall we? Thank you guys for reading, I hope you're enjoying this story.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>